Guest Post: What Are You Not Interpreting Correctly?

It has always fascinated me that more Christians do not realize how the bible can be used to justify anything. A favourite example that atheists like to bring up is that god allowed slavery, to which the Christians argue that this was long ago etc. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have some first hand experience of the lunacy of Biblical interpretations. I say fortunately as it is for me a clear example of why Christianity should never be trusted.

I was born in South Africa in 1977, in other words I was born into apartheid South Africa. Luckily I was born into a white family, which meant I had the best side of life in South Africa at that time, also luckily for me I came from a very liberal family. I used to have friends of different races, and where we grew up we luckily did not have many problems with the security (moral) police that would frown upon this kind of behavior. These police where capable of prosecuting you if you had for example a lover from a different race, so I luckily never got my parents sent to jail.

But here is the scary part. The Bible was used by the government through the Afrikaans churches to justify apartheid. But for full clarity, let me explain further as it was not just a justification. It was taught in churches that the black man was a lesser human, and could never be accepted in heaven. I hope this shocks you, because this is what was happening.  I have met people that have said to me “Christian, you have to understand black people are like animals.” The harsh reality is that some of these people still believe this, and this can be blamed on their racist upbringing and religious indoctrination.

To pinpoint exact verses from the bible that were used to justify this discrimination is not an easy task (as I am sure it was not an easy task for the apartheid government). Please read the links below especially the parts that have to do with apartheid. The reason that this is not easy, is that the Afrikaner actually believed that they were a superior race or should I say gods chosen people. The majority of verses used to justify apartheid had to do with slavery....but don't Christians like to say slavery happened a long time ago? Maybe 20 years is a long time ago?

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

What really surprised me is that the church in South Africa that was so adamant that apartheid could be justified using the bible has turned their backs on that belief now (see the article  ). However, they are still opposed to homosexuality like most other churches. This shows that the discrimination has just moved its focus to another group. When finally churches stop being homophobic, I honestly have to wonder where will their discrimination next move to.

This justification for apartheid has always made me wonder about anything that the bible is used to justify. I also believe anyone that reads this will have to agree with me. If you are a Christian, you will no doubt say that they were misguided and not interpreting the Bible correctly, but ask yourself what are you not interpreting correctly?

Sheldon's note: The writer of the preceding guest post was South African atheist and blogger, Christian Kemp. Check out his blog, simply titled I Am an Atheist and This Is Why.