In my blog, Hbt-bibeln, I've explored different Bible texts alleged to deal with homosexuality. The result is that most of the allegations are misunderstandings or mistranslations. The blog is in Swedish, but there are a number of English links.
On the same note, American gay author Bradley Fowler is seeking US$60 million in damages from Zondervan Corp. and $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing, charging that the publishers are guilty of malice, negligence and violation of his civil rights. He claims the publishers misled consumers and Christian Bible readers into believing "homosexuals would not inherit the kingdom of God."
While conducting research for a book he was writing, Fowler says he "grew concerned about the variation of scriptures from one Bible to the next." According to Fowler, he was "flabbergasted to find out this Christian publisher had imposed its own opinions upon religious sectors, by fraudulently implementing the terminology - homosexual - to its Bible; then removed the term from its 1994 Holy Bible - without informing the general public."
One of the text alterations Fowler attributes to Thomas Nelson Publishing comes from 1 Corinthians 6:9. In the text from a 1976 Bible version by Thomas Nelson, the passage reads: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind [...]"
In the text from a 1982 version, the passage has been changed to: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites [...]"
Finally, in a 2001 version, Fowler claims the passage was changed yet again to read: "Surely you know that the people who do wrong will not inherit God's kingdom. Do not be fooled, those who sin sexually, worship idols, take part in adultery, those who are male prostitutes, or men who have sexual relations with other men, those who steal, are greedy, get drunk, lie about others, or rob, these people will not inherit God's kingdom."
In a statement released to the press, Fowler says that imposing terminology that "conveys a message of hate and discrimination towards a particular sector or group of individuals, solely based on bias opinions" has caused countless homosexuals to be "assaulted, discriminated against, and or, even murdered." He claims that Christians historically believe biblical scriptures are the "authentic word of God" and that the alterations of passages by Bible publishers to depict homosexuality as a sin is a wilful manipulation of society into "mistreating homosexuals."
A spokesperson for Zondervan Corp. says: "Since Zondervan does not translate the Bible or own the copyright for any of the translations we publish, we are not in a position to comment on the merits of how a word should or should not be translated."
Well, what can one say? Zondervan has a point; it is the translators that have the greatest responsibility for the wording of the translations. I do think that the publishers share the responsibility in some fashion, but going after them with a law suit is perhaps not the way to start. But it's the USA, of course.
Fowler also has a point, however. The misconceptions about the sinfulness of homosexuality per se are largely based on 1Cor 6:9 and a few similar verses being mistranslated according to the prejudices of the translators or their backers. This misuse of a text perceived as authoritative is serious, since it leads to so much suffering and even violence against those who are seemingly singled out by "the Word of God". From the viewpoint of society, this is a serious offence; from a Christian viewpoint, this is a grave sin!
But how to remedy the situation? By law suits, creating "martyrs"? I doubt it, but it is perhaps worth a try. We'll see how it turns out.
Sources and links: http://karlafhallstrom.blogspot.com/2008/08/bible-publishers-sued-for-clobber.html
