Where Does It Say That?

The Evangelical right appears to be pretty convinced that the Bible defines marriage as between one man and one woman. They have instructed their elected Congressional and state legislative theocrats to insure that this purported Christian mandate is carried through into the laws of each state and of course, the United States. Gay marriage is, therefore, contrary to these direct Biblical proscriptions and must be banned accordingly. There’s just one little catch, according a joint editorial written by religious scholars Hector Avalos (who teaches at Iowa State University), Robert R. Cargill (University of Iowa) and Kenneth Atkinson (University of Northern Iowa) and published in the Des Moines Register on June 9th: The Bible does not, they contend, actually say that anywhere.

They wrote: “As academic biblical scholars, we wish to clarify that the biblical texts do not support the frequent claim that marriage between one man and one woman is the only type of marriage deemed acceptable by the Bible’s authors… The fact that marriage is not defined as only that between one man and one woman is reflected in the entry on ‘marriage’ in the authoritative Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000): ‘Marriage is one expression of kinship family patterns in which typically a man and at least one woman cohabitate publicly and permanently as a basic social unit’ (p. 861).

“The phrase ‘at least one woman’ recognizes that polygamy was not only allowed, but some polygamous biblical figures (e.g., Abraham, Jacob) were highly blessed. In 2 Samuel 12:8, the author says that it was God who gave David multiple wives: ‘I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom. ... And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more’ (Revised Standard Version).

“In fact, there were a variety of unions and family configurations that were permissible in the cultures that produced the Bible, and these ranged from monogamy (Titus 1:6) to those where rape victims were forced to marry their rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28-29) and to those Levirate marriage commands obligating a man to marry his brother’s widow regardless of the living brother’s marital status (Deuteronomy 25:5-10; Genesis 38; Ruth 2-4). Others insisted that celibacy was the preferred option (1 Corinthians 7:8; 28).

“Although some may view Jesus’ interpretation of Genesis 2:24 in Matthew 19:3-10 as an endorsement of monogamy, Jesus and other Jewish interpreters conceded that there were also non-monogamous understandings of this passage in ancient Judaism, including those allowing divorce and remarriage… In fact, during a discussion of marriage in Matthew 19:12, Jesus even encourages those who can to castrate themselves ‘for the kingdom’ and live a life of celibacy… Ezra 10:2-11 forbids interracial marriage and orders those people of God who already had foreign wives to divorce them immediately.”

Perhaps those who fight so hard to define the private lives of others should simply be more honest about their approach to their God-fearing elected representatives. “We want the Bible to define marriage as between one man and one woman.”

I’m Peter Dekom, and sometimes “none of your damned business” is a pretty sound policy!