Is Dan Savage Right?
Say what you will about journalist and activist Dan Savage, but he’s never afraid to speak his mind. During a speech recently at a high school journalism conference, Savage condemned the Bible, saying that many teachings are antiquated. It was an attempt to explain away the condemnation of homosexuality and the Christian right’s admonishment of gay rights today based on Bible passages from a radically different time and culture.
“We can learn to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about gay people,” Savage says. “The same way, the same way we have learned to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation. We ignore bullshit in the Bible about all sorts of things. The Bible is a radically pro-slavery document. Slave owners waved Bibles over their heads during the Civil War and justified it.”
Many students at the conference walked out when he took the Bible to task, while others vigorously applauded him. What do you think? Should these budding journalists have stayed to report and respond? Was it fair to walk out before he finished the speech? And is Savage actually onto something?
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