I for one wasn’t offended. I have read the whole thing (like several others here), though not in sequence cover to cover and certainly not in one sitting. I’ve also over the years, read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Iroquois Confederation’s Constitution, the Federalist papers, Locke, Voltaire, Hobbes, etc. Every time I re-read any one of them, I find something new, that I had missed before. I’ve also read The Book of the Seven Rings and the Art of War, and Macchiavelli’s the Prince.
They all talk about government and honor, each in their own way. Somehow, a person like Santorum manages to violate the basic precepts of all of them, one way or another. Even the Prince, which cuts some slack for “evil” or “selfish” rulers, demands that they have some basic competence.
As repugnant an asshole as Sen. Santorum is, I do not agree with this Pitting. It’s not necessary to read the entire Bible to be a good Jew or Christian. I have read the entire thing cover to cover, New Testament too, and I’m always learning new interpretations and meanings from other people. Just reading it isn’t enough - that’s why we have clergy in the first place.
Just to clarify my above statement…I’m not interested in defending Santorum. I’m certainly not interested in defending his notion that seems to be “Since I’m Catholic, scripture study is not really part of our heritage”.
Of course that doesn’t have to mean “read every single verse of the bible”…nor does it mean (at least from a Roman Catholic perspective), the the bible is the ONLY teaching worth considering.
For the purposes of this thread then, substitute “liberal/leftie self identified Christian who has not read the bible in toto” for Guin.
I’m sure that there are “conservative/rightie self identified Christians who have not read the bible in toto” on the boards as well. But we’ll let the Santorum fill that role
The very title of the thread is “Rick Santorum Has Never Read the Bible”. That’s a lie. Sen Santorum has indeed read the Bible. He does admit he has never read it “cover to cover”, which is not the same thing at all.
In point of fact, I hold almost the exact opposite political beliefs as he does. Santorum may well be a lying sack of shit hypocrite- or a jackass, or even a bigot. However- stating that he hasn’t "read the Bible cover to cover’ doesn’t say anything bad about him at all, and confirms none of those.
Santorum’s political beliefs should be a fertile ground for PITing. This is feeble and disingenuous. PITing him for this is sinking to his level.
** DrDeth **, If you were in a college classroom being lectured to about say The Lord of the Rings would you not expect the professor to have read the series? How pleased would you be if it came to light during the course of the lecture that the professor in fact has not read all of the books becuase he is not a scholar and that is not how he interacts with the material? It seems to me that if you are going to be lecturing about something you ought to have read what you are lecturing about. Why should Mr. Santorum be allowed to lecture about his religion when he has not read the central text of that religion?
Well, having gone to a Catholic college, I am well familiar with the fact that many, many Catholics have never read the vast majority of the Bible and what is more, the manage not even to be bothered about this lack. I was quite shocked, coming from a Bible Babtists background, but Catholics do not follow the doctrine of Sola Scriptura so it really is not all that extraordinary. To Catholics, the text in the New and Old Testaments is on par with Tradition. Part of tradition is Catholic laity not being that familar with the scripture. They have priests and tradition to guide them. From conversations with many Catholics, I have discovered that many of them have odd notions about what is actually in the Bible.
Besides, they rely on the wrong Bible anyway. I find the Douay translation shocking too.
The Bible isn’t a novel. Sen Santorum has indeed “read the central text of that religion”- he just hasn’t read it “cover to cover”. You have heard from many posters here- who know a lot about the Bible- saying that reading the Bible “cover to cover” is unusual and hardly required to be knowledgable about the Bible.
Regardless, he (Santorum) is still no damn good. On that, we all seem to agree. I still insist, that he is also violating the teachings of the Bible, independent of what parts he did read.
Its pretty clear to me from his other statements and the writing in the article that the Senator has not in fact read all of the Bible. I do not believe that he meant that he has not read from page 1 to the end.
1-In your esteemed opinion, why did your god give you a brain capable of independent thought?
2-Other than logic, what makes your interpretation of a passage more/less valid than someone else’s?
3-Would you be willing to leave your faith if logical arguments rebutted its propositions?
Note that if you answer the last query in the affirmative it would no longer be caled “faith.” And if you don’t, how do you posit one opposes a belief which does not rely on empirical evidence? How’s your god any more feasable than any other thought that springs to mind?
Being from “up there” in North Alabama (the NYC part) you probably haven’t encountered that many Fundies. This is incredibly common among the Protestant ones down here: they’ve never read the whole thing but are more than willing to pronounce it inerrant and a code to live by (after all, sacrificing birds to get rid of mildew in your house and keeping the daughter’s bloody honeymoon sheets are still good rules of thumb). Reminds me of Brendan Behan’s comment on the Irish: “They haven’t a notion what they believe but they’ll fight to the death to defend it.”
Hmm…logic dictates that I’ve submitted five questions not three as I originally stated – apologies. Unless of course you have faith in what I originally wrote. Like I said, can’t argue faith.
Care to see the IPU under my bed? It informs me your god is right next to it.
My older brother read the whole thing a few years ago, and he’s twenty now. I know several christians who have. It’s not an age issue, it’s more that a lot don’t feel the need to.
That said, I’m also surprised that people are surprised he hasn’t read it. Most American christians probably haven’t.
There’s a huge christian culture of radio, books, music, etc. that they are so saturated with, and most make it a cheap replacement to actually reading for themselves.
I’d prefer an uneducated fundie to someone like Dobson who probably has read it and is still a jerk. At least Santorum isn’t as much of a hypocrite.
