by Deante Hunter
I am a black American who grew up in a Christian household until I came out as an atheist during high school. I thought the Bible was fictional storytelling with no value to my life or morals. How could this book be in agreement with human rationality? I thought “The world would be better off without religion.” ...Around 2016 I discovered what I viewed as the genius of an economic philosopher named Karl Marx. ... But now I have broken free from the grip of Marxism, and others can do the same.
Deante is a graduate of UM-Dearborn in Media Studies, and now an Assistant Chapter Director for Ratio Christi there.
Ismael Rammal
"I was born and raised in Dearborn. My parents, as well as my whole family, are from Lebanon. I was raised to be a Muslim. Despite attending a Muslim school dedicated to Qur'anic teachings and Islamic education on Saturdays alongside public school, I wasn’t very interested in Islam, as I was too young to care. Although they were firm believers, my parents were not strict in enforcing a traditional Islamic household for me or my two sisters. They would encourage us to pray, and we would always fast for Ramadan, but their commitment to raising us in the faith was quite weak. Thus, I had a loose relationship with religion, and with God."
A long overdue posting of Dr. Peter Payne's response to Ozair on this subject
Dear Ozair,
My name is Dr. Peter Payne. More than three years ago Scott Cherry passed along to me your paper on rape and pedophilia in the Bible. At that time I wrote this letter for you which I asked him to share with you. ...Did he? Either way, he has only now decided to post it here. In two or three parts I will respond to what you have said. What I had to say about point #1 below turned out to be long enough that I decided to send it by itself and send you my responses to the rest of your paper in a couple of subsequent emails. Since your paper focuses on the question of whether the Old Testament condones rape and pedophilia, I won’t respond here to why a good God would at times command the killing of everyone found in a town, and at times command command what initially may seem like genocide. (I could address that topic at another time.) Since early in your paper you raise the question of the character of God in the Old Testament, that is what I will address in this email. In a subsequent piece I will address texts you cite in support of your claim that the OT God condones rape and pedophilia. *All biblical quotations will be from the English Standard Version translation.
A long overdue posting of Claudine's response to Ozair on this subject
Dear Ozair,
My name is Claudine. A long time ago (3½ years!) Scott Cherry shared with me some of his fascinating correspondence with you about a few passages in the Old Testament books of Moses (and the Qur'an) that were stimulating intense discussion. Well, way back then I wrote this letter for you but Scott chose not to post it until now, especially focused on Deuteronomy 22:28-29.[1]
I understand your difficulty with those bible passages because like many, I share in some of your thoughts. I thought that you may like to hear from a Christian woman on the issue of what seemed to you as rape and pedophilia in the Old Testament.
Nothing can be understood if we don’t understand the beginning: In the beginning...God’s creation was perfect, but a big problem happened: Man disobeyed God. Man decided to listen and trust another voice than that of his creator even though God had warned him it would lead to death. Every other problem humanity has ever experienced stems from that.
Post-Resurrection Tuesday: A 31-day Lenten Devotional Series by Rev. Dave Brown
Exodus 20:1-21
The thunder and lightning, sound of the trumpet, smoke and earthquake on the mountain was God’s way of presenting himself to Israel. If there ever was a theophany, this was it! God has shown up and manifested himself to human beings.
