Andrew Schlafly, the son of conservative activist and anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly, is the guiding force behind a program to remove from the Bible what he and his team believe to be pernicious liberal biases that have been allowed to exist in the holy book for too long.
Ancient Languages of the Bible
According to Biblica.com, “The first human author to write down the biblical record was Moses. He was commanded by God to take on this task, for Exodus 34:27 records God’s words to Moses, ‘Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ ”
Moses, of course, used his native tongue, Hebrew, to begin the Old Testament and he was just the first of many writers who compiled the work over a thousand years.
The New Testament, which was written from 50 CE to 100 CE, was produced in Greek.
Many Bible Translations already Exist
The first complete translation of the Bible into English was completed by John Wycliff in 1382. Since then, there have been at least 50 complete English translations, according to Bible.ca.
However, Tony Norman writes in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette (October 13, 2009) none of these, nor all those written in other languages pass muster in the eyes of America’s Christian right: “According to the Conservative Bible Project, none of the 8,000 Bible translations currently in existence contain enough conservative principles to make a printed Bible worth a damn - no, there is not even one.”
Free Market Interpretation of the Bible
Conservative Christian Americans don’t like liberals – they don’t like them at all. They view the permissive nature of liberalism as corrupting the core of Christian morality.
To correct the perceived imbalance, Andrew Schlafly and volunteers he has drawn from students of his online history courses at Eagle Forum University, have embarked on a massive biblical rewrite project.
The venture’s website says that, “Liberal bias has become the single biggest distortion in modern Bible translations.”
Examples of Biblical Liberal Bias
Toronto Star reporter Lesley Ciarula Taylor interviewed Schlafly (October 8, 2009) who gave her some examples of the kind of things that will be dealt with in the new translation.
In John 8:7 of the New Testament, there is the parable of the adulteress in which Jesus advises that he who is without sin should cast the first stone. Taylor quotes Schlafly as saying, “This is a permissive story used by liberals to oppose capital punishment. It is saying there can be forgiveness without repentance.”
Schlafly’s version of the Bible is big on punishment and will stress the reality of Hell: “If people think it doesn’t exist, they think they can get away with anything.”
Mark 3:6 speaks of Pharisees who opposed the teaching of Jesus. In Schlafly’s version the Pharisees have been changed into “Liberals.”
Critics of the Conservative Bible Project
Theological scholars are not impressed by Schlafly and his team of enthusiastic amateurs. One of the critics is James McGrath, an associate professor of religion at Butler University in Indianapolis.
The Globe and Mail (October 10, 2009) quotes McGrath as saying, “If it’s an attempt at humour, it’s hilarious, but I have a sinking feeling it’s something else – that conservatives are realizing the Bible does not always serve their interests, something the rest of us have known for some time.”
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