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A special thanks to SYRF organzer Kaile Wilson and Brown
Students for Choice for organizing this fantastic event.
Liberal bishop questions literal reading of Bible
The Rev. John Shelby Spong spoke on literalism in Christianity
last night.
By: Connie Zheng March 19, 2008
 The
Rev. John Shelby Spong, a retired Episcopal bishop from Newark,
N.J., and the author of books such as "Jesus for the
Non-Religious," delivered his modern interpretation of
Christianity to an audience of about 40 in List 120 last night.
In "The Christian Church and the Sexuality Debate,"
Spong addressed homosexuality, abortion, sexism and racism
from a reframed Christian viewpoint, as he offered an analysis
that emphasized a non-literal interpretation of the Bible.
"There's a difference between an experience of Jesus
and an explanation of the experience of Jesus," Spong
said during the question-and-answer session after the lecture,
which was hosted by Students for Choice. The lecture was sponsored
by the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, the Office of Institutional
Diversity, Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom and the
Kaleidoscope Fund, a fund created by President Ruth Simmons
in 2005 in order to promote intellectual diversity on campus.
Spong, who is "pro-a woman's right to choose,"
said that he is excited about the American public slowly overcoming
its prejudices toward homosexuality. He said he hoped to see
homophobia, racism and sexism "exorcised" from American
life.
Spong analyzed the racism and sexism that he said are persistent
in attitudes toward the presidential campaigns of Sens. Barack
Obama, D-Ill. and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. He asked the crowd
why, after an 11-state sweep, Obama still had not clinched
the nomination. He also used the success of black politicians
such as Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Massachusetts
Gov. Deval Patrick as examples of the decline of racism in
the American public and as catalysts to change American consciousness
toward race.
Spong also called Clinton the first woman in America the
voting public could imagine as president, before citing sexist
comments various members of the media have made about the
Clinton campaign. One of these was journalist Carl Bernstein's
quip about the width of Clinton's ankles, to which Spong replied
by asking the audience how the public would have reacted if
Bernstein had joked about former presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee's body parts instead. The audience, which was scattered
around the auditorium, laughed in response.
Spong discussed Christianity's role in shaping sexism, racism
and homophobia as well. He said that many Christians have
quoted the Bible to justify these prejudices. After repeating
some of these quotes, he suggested that literal, fundamentalist
interpretations of them were wrong.
"It's strange what we have to literalize in order to
keep our prejudices intact," Spong said. He added that
the Book of Leviticus, which lists male homosexuality as a
sin punishable by death, also recommends execution for disobeying
one's parents.
"How many of you would still be alive?" Spong quipped,
to the crowd's amusement.
"When you treat the Bible literally, you can use it
as a weapon against your victims," he said toward the
end of his lecture. "Nothing that defiles life for anyone
can be called Christianity."
On abortion, Spong said the practice should be "safe,
legal and rare," calling a woman's choice a "serious
decision." He said he believes that those who simultaneously
oppose abortion and widespread contraception also assume abstinence
is the solution to unwanted pregnancies, which he said was
"naive."
After living for 20 years in crime-ridden Newark, Spong said
he could think of many occasions where abortion would present
a reasonable option. In the hypothetical case of a 12-year-old
rape victim with an unwanted pregnancy, he asked, "Is
the (fetus's) life valued above the life of the girl?"
Members of the audience also asked Spong about American attitudes
toward contraception, chasms in the Anglican Church and the
role of religion in American life, among other topics.
When Gail Rosen '09 asked Spong what he believed the role
of religion in politics should be, he responded that Christianity
ought to "bring life back together, as opposed to making
religion a part of life ... I'm more concerned about my religion
permeating life." He concluded the question-and-answer
session by saying that people should "get underneath"
Jesus' experience, rather than interpret it literally.
While a number of audience members left shortly after they
asked questions, the small number who stayed through the entire
talk - and then afterwards to speak with Spong - were impressed
by the bishop's speech and said they generally agreed with
his sentiments.
"I came in expecting a talk incorporating a religious
sentiment more," said Rosen, who added that God should
be part of the discussion "if you're going to talk about
religion in a relationship." Still, she said that she
agreed with most of Spong's points.
Amelia Plant '10, vice president of the Students for Choice,
said the lecture was "amazing" and that Spong's
words were important during a time when religion "is
so politicized and polarizing."
Plant attributed the lecture's low turnout to the Vincent
"Buddy" Cianci, Jr. lecture at 8 p.m. last night,
which she said SFC only found out about last week. But Spong
didn't seem to mind, calling the audience "wonderful."
© Copyright 2008 Brown Daily Herald
Media Credit: Quinn Savit
Copyright 2005-2007 Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom.
This website is a project of Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom, a program of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC). The contents of this website and linked websites do not necessarily reflect the positions of the RCRC or the member faith groups of the RCRC.
info@syrf.org
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