Leonard Pitts on Biblical Literalism

Biblical Literalists need to shit, get off the fence, or just shut
up. Leonard Pitts is almost always just right on. Here is a good one:

Full Article

Literalism blocks Bible's big pictureBy LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com
First Baptist Church of Watertown, N.Y., fired Mary Lambert for being a woman. They say the Bible told them to do it.

Nothing against women, says the Rev. Timothy LaBouf. The church is just trying to obey 1 Timothy 2:11-14, which says, in part, ``A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.''

So, after 54 years as a Sunday school teacher at First Baptist, Lambert was given the heave-ho a couple weeks ago. She and others have said the firing probably had as much to do with church politics as with scriptural injunctions, but let's stick with the stated reason as given in her letter of dismissal: The Bible forbids women taking positions of authority. There is, for the record, a similar injunction in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, which warns that it is ''disgraceful'' for a woman to speak in the church.

So the church is scripturally right. It's just not right right.