Deriving Morals, Laws, and Policy Ideas from the Bible

Last updated on: January 9, 2017 at 11:49 pm by Kyle Cupp

Deriving Morals, Laws, and Policy Ideas from the Bible 2017-01-09T23:49:53-05:00 Kyle Cupp

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Commenting on the Newsweek cover story about biblical illiteracy, Hemant Mehta counsels us not to structure our lives and societies upon the words of the Bible: “for every Christian who claims to know the Bible,” he says, “there’s another Christian who knows that person is wrong. For that reason, it’s hardly a book from which we should be deriving our morals or laws or policy ideas.”

I take it that Mehta dismisses the Bible as a reliable moral guide not simply because Christians disagree about what the text means, but rather because he believes there’s no way to prove the legitimacy of one interpretation against another. It’s still an odd claim he makes, and not only because it ignores the history of biblical hermeneutics.

The fact is there is no universally-agreeable or indisputably-defined set of moral, legal, and political principles on which we could build social norms, legal structures, and public policies to which most every reasonable person would agree. The conflict of interpretations is hardly unique to the Bible or to religion. Even when we agree that one ought to do what’s right and avoid doing what’s wrong, we disagree fundamentally about what each one means and entails. For every reasonable person who claims to know right from wrong, there’s another reasonable person who knows that person is mistaken. People simply don’t reason the same way, in the same contexts, or from the same principles.

Follow Kyle Cupp on Facebook and Twitter.

Previous Post

December 19, 2014

How the Hobbit Movies Should Have Ended: A LEGO Version Featuring Hello Kitty

Next Post

December 31, 2014 Parenting ProTip

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews Confessions Culture Current Events Family Life Hermeneutics Humor LEGO Sets Mindless Monday Question Personal Philosophy Policy Politics and Society Quotes Religion in Pop Culture Series Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2016 December 2015 August 2015 July 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How did Jesus provide for the temple tax?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Found in a tree A coin in a fish's mouth He borrowed from Judas He multiplied bread