Christians Prove, Yet Again, They Don’t Really Know What The Bible Says About Gays And Gender
It’s no secret that employers like to be able to vet their applicants to get a feel for whether they’d suit the workplace culture. Typically, this means asking them about their interests or hobbies. The Yakima Union Gospel Mission thrift store allegedly took a more direct approach by requiring applicants to explicitly detail their feelings and views on homosexuality and gender, reports Queerty.
I’M CALLING HR
One poster on Reddit who goes by onlyinyaks uploaded a screenshot from the job-seeking site Indeed, which allegedly showed the application form for Yakima Union Gospel Mission thrift store. In the post, a few questions were detailed one of which appears to ask, “What do you believe the Bible says about homosexuality and how the Bible defines/views gender?”
The wording of the question could be spun so that it appears innocent enough. Perhaps it was to glean whether future employees were tolerant to diverse communities or whether they were zealously opposed to LGBTQIA+ folks (which should be a major workplace red flag).
The following question put that plausible deniability to rest. “Do you agree or disagree with what the Bible says about homosexuality and gender identity?” The first question reportedly sets up the applicant to say the Bible opposes homosexuality and gender diversity and the second allegedly offers them a chance to say they agree with that sentiment.
THE SHORT DEBUNKING
The problems aligned with pinning most of your alleged anti-LGBTQIA+ biases on the Bible are too numerous to list in this article, but we’ll detail the most glaringly obvious ones. Firstly, the Bible is an ancient text scribed, interpreted and translated (and mistranslated) over thousands of years. Soap didn’t exist when it was written so it doesn’t quite make sense to try fit the teachings into the modern day.
Secondly, the practice of hermeneutics (the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible) requires that followers of the Christian faith look beyond what the Bible states plainly and interpret what it truly means. When Leviticus (18:22, 20:13) says, “Man shall not lie with man”, it must be recognised that this was written in relation to a society that feared for the continuity of family lineage and was probably less about opposition to the act itself. When Corinthians (1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10) discussed homosexuality, it’s more than likely this was in the context of avoiding sexual exploitation and violence, reports Human Rights Watch.
Thirdly, and lastly, Christians shouldn’t be allowed to cherry pick what gets to be taken literally and what gets to be interpreted. The Bible states that it’s prohibited to sit where a menstruating woman has sat (15:19-21), wear clothes made of linen and wool (Leviticus 19:19) and allow women to teach men (Timothy 2:11), reports Ranker.
Maybe the questionnaire should have asked, “Do you agree that women should remain silent and in servitude to men?” It would have been just as absurd and out of place in 2022.
