That Confusing Morality Thing

Nicholas Kristof thinks he has the answer to the whole morality vote thing: slamming the Bible. After all, if Conservatives of faith support their position by quoting scripture, why not slam the book from which the scripture comes?

Quoting from "The Sins of Scripture," a new book by former bishop and Harvard theologian John Shelby Spong, Kristof writes (h/t Real Clear Politics) that the Left can throw a hand grenade into the morality vote with provocations like this:

"Can we really worship the God found in the Bible who sent the angel of death across the land of Egypt to murder the firstborn males in every Egyptian household?" Bishop Spong asks. Or what about 1 Samuel 15, in which God is quoted as issuing orders to wipe out all the Amalekites: "Kill both man and woman, child and infant." Hmmm. Tough love, or war crimes? As for the New Testament, Revelation 19:17 has an angel handing out invitations to a divine dinner of "the flesh of all people."

Deepening his misunderstanding, Kristof plunges on:

In modern times, this same discomfort with sex has led some conservative Christians to a hatred of gays and a hostility toward condoms, even to fight AIDS.

His advise for countering the morality vote is simple: Question morality.

Liberals can and should confront Bible-thumping preachers on their own terms, for the scriptural emphasis on justice and compassion gives the left plenty of ammunition. After all, the Bible depicts Jesus as healing lepers, not slashing Medicaid.

As with all other proposals for winning back the morality vote, the Kristof/Spong proposal has only one flaw: It won't work with people who vote the morality vote. If they have any training at all in apologetics, they will see through the misapplication and misunderstanding of scripture and be uninfluenced. They understand how Christ replaced the law-based scripture of the Torah with a faith-based new Covenant. They know the killing of the Amalekites did not extend to a God-ordained killing of other non-believers. And they are comfortable with the symbolism of Revelation.

So the libs will practice the lines on themselves, widening the gap between themselves and conservatives -- and more importantly, between themselves and Christ.