Gay Man Sues Bible

A gay man from Michigan is suing two bible publishers, claiming that they sell and distribute a translation of the Bible which has caused him emotional distress and violates his constitutional rights. Bradley LaShawn Fowler is seeking Zondervan for $60 million and $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing because their Bibles explicitly call homosexuality a sin in 1 Corinthians 6:9. In a standard King James translation, the passage reads, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind." Fowler is alleging that the publishers "manipulated" the translation by changing "abusers of themselves with mankind" to "homosexuals."

Of course, that's not an unusual reading of that particular passage. Many other modern translations say the same thing. For example:

New International Version:

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders...

New American Standard Bible:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals....

New King James Version:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites...

English Standard Version:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality...

And so on. It looks like if Fowler is serious about his cause, he has a lot of suing ahead of him. Maybe the truth is that although liberal Christians wish otherwise, homophobia is a congenital part of the Bible that can't be neatly excised.

Fowler says that by calling homosexuality a sin, the Bibles published by Zondervan and Thomas Nelson have caused periods of "demoralization, chaos and bewilderment," and made him ostracized from his family. He sees the issue as being not one of legitimate translation, but of the publishers deliberately imposing an anti-gay agenda by changing the text of the Bible. He claims that Zondervan Bibles published in 1982 and 1987 used the word "homosexuals" in the text, while those before and after those editions don't. However, a Grand Rapids television station checked several editions of Bibles published by Zondervan, and says that all versions since the 1980s have said "homosexuals." For their part, Zondervan claims the case is ridiculous (and for once, we have to agree with the Christians on this); according to a spokesperson, they neither translate the Bible, nor do they own the copyrights to the translations that they publish.
 
 
 
http://carnalnation.com/content/27776/10/gay-man-discovers-homophobia-bible-files-lawsuit
 
 
It's an old story i just wanted to share and hear opinions.

You do know there is other stuff going on in the world besides religion? You don't need to make a religious thread every other day.

Sure, you do that. 

Kind of a harsh reaction to a freaking bible passage... H8ers gonna H8

Must......stop.....laughing.

i just want to point out the inaccurate translation. 

i just want to point out the inaccurate translation. 

suing for the purposely mistranslating the original text into homosexual.

Thats hilarious. Looks like someone wants attention.

Another ridiculous and frivolous lawsuit.

@Dracade102: yeah, haters gonna hate gays, and kill them, and hang them, and treat them like second class citizens for no reason....except for an incorrect translation  all the religious crap about homosexuals, all the public discord "in the name of Jesus" is all bs and wasn't in the actual bible that was ACTUALLY written from the apostles of Jesus  

QTF.

@Dracade102: were you  "quoting me for truth" or telling me to "quit fukcing talking?"

@Dracade102: were you  "quoting me for truth" or telling me to "quit fukcing talking?"

Just SMH 

and for more than 400 years people have been using the "word of god" as a reason to hate gays it happens on THIS SITE ALL THE TIME!!!!! and it's wrong

@Dracade102:  I didn't know until someone told me too now I always wonder.... @Nova`Prime`: yes, but most people do not know that they versions of the bible they have read that do condemn homosexuality are in fact mistranslated King James put that in there the original texts were really only concerned with pedophiles and rapists- not gays and for more than 400 years people have been using the "word of god" as a reason to hate gays it happens on THIS SITE ALL THE TIME!!!!! and it's wrong and someone should at least try to make it known hopefully this will shed a little light on it for a least a few people who think Jesus wanted them to hate gays you know, becuase Jesus was all about the hate

@castleking said:

i just want to point out the inaccurate translation.

Is that not the most common issue with the bible though? I am never astonished to hear that translations are basically quite often a twisting of gods original word.

Still find this a bit over the top though, like.. come on dude...

Another ridiculous and frivolous lawsuit.

Why is the man suing that version when every version basically says the same thing?

In all honesty I don't think you can sue the people who wrote the newer versions of the bible since really it stems from where this clause was originally put in by (as others have said) King James. But if anything if the lawsuit brought up issues of that edition it might make more people think, but people are a stubborn lot so I'm thinking it's unlikely to have any kind of positive outcome except certain religious people claim that now gays are attacking the word of god =\

One of the top stupidest things I have ever heard.

@castleking said:

i just want to point out the inaccurate translation.

Is that not the most common issue with the bible though? I am never astonished to hear that translations are basically quite often a twisting of gods original word.

Still find this a bit over the top though, like.. come on dude...

@castleking said:

@.Mistress Redhead. said:

@castleking said:

i just want to point out the inaccurate translation.

Is that not the most common issue with the bible though? I am never astonished to hear that translations are basically quite often a twisting of gods original word.

Still find this a bit over the top though, like.. come on dude...

yes. I cant speak for the man suing for his reasoning behind it but i assume the biggest thing is that he might be able to show to everyone else is how inaccurate and how often the bible is mistranslated sometimes purposely. Now i dont think he has a case to win b/c even hate speech is allowed under the constitution.

Yeah, I suppose if he at least manages to shine some light on an ongoing issue then he will have done some good with his lawsuit.

I just struggle to believe that anyone is doing it for anything but the money.

@castleking said:

@.Mistress Redhead.: you know that there are people who do such things for the principle of the matter even at a financial cost? >_>

I am sure there are, I am just jaded ;)

@Nova`Prime` said:

Another ridiculous and frivolous lawsuit.

pretty much. That's america for you...

i just want to point out the inaccurate translation.  

@Ashra: I don't think he's doing it for validation. I for one find it interesting. Relax.

@Ashra said:

@castleking said:

i just want to point out the inaccurate translation.

Of course! To prove what a MAGNIFICENT scholar you are. Which, is why you have a billion threads of this nature. Dude, it's great you have internet access and that you read up on religion, but are you really needing affirmation and validation sooooo badly that you must demonstrate to the CV community every hour on the hour what a tremendous scholar you are?

If your upset at someone for making threads about issues that are important to him, then speak to them via PM or alert a mod (if its a repeated thread) but coming into their thread to have a go at them is not a positive reaction. The off topic section is used for just this sort of thing, it encourages traffic to the site and allows users a chance to take a break from constant CB talk, if he was making excessive threads the mods would alert him to it.

@Ashra:   you realize that i only made maybe 5 threads with religion at it's center while the vast majority numbering in the hundreds have bn: vs. what ifs, games, and various others, right?  O_o  no need to get offended, if you do not like the thread or my blogs dont post in them easy as that.