Seen and heard

Busy day today, but here's some good reading:

Allen Brill has an op-ed in today's Charlotte Observer that he reproduced at The Right Christians that everyone should read:

Sexual Mores and the Bible

The conservative proponents of biblical sexual standards better hope that no one examines the texts they rely upon too closely for many of the Bible's ideas about sexual morality are quite alien to our own. Biblical sexual mores were centered around two concerns: preserving the property rights and honor of men with respect to the women in the household; and avoiding tebel, the improper mixing, that could threaten the order that God had imposed upon chaos.

The status of women and children in biblical times throughout the Ancient Near East was little above that of chattel. In Judges 19, the old Ephraimite man could offer his virgin daughter to satisfy gang rapists without even asking for her consent. Sexual behavior was prohibited only when it interfered with another male's property rights or honor. "Adultery" was defined as sleeping with another's wife. Sexual relations with prostitutes was not prohibited. Sleeping with a step-mother, mother-in-law or daughter-in-law was punishable by death. On the other hand, there was no explicit prohibition against a father having sex with his daughter. "Rape" was sleeping with a unmarried woman without her father's permission. If she was betrothed to another man, the victim died along with the rapist unless she "cried out" in protest. If she was not betrothed, her father received a bride-price for her from the rapist and she had to marry the man.

The laws against homosexuality and bestiality that are found in chapters 18 and 20 of Leviticus derive from the taboo against tebel rather than a concern for male property rights. Sexual acts between males--there is no biblical prohibition against lesbian sex--or sexual interaction between humans and animals constituted an "improper mixing" could lead to cosmic collapse just as mixing two kinds of crops in a field or two kinds of material in clothing.

What is missing in the biblical regulation of sexuality that we now consider of utmost importance? Consent, particularly consent on the part of women and children.

Also, welcome to the blogosphere another Table Talk alum, Julius Civitatus, who is already off to a roaring start with his JuliusBlog. Be sure to check out his excellent review of The Passion of the Christ.

Meanwhile, on the lighter side of the same topic, there's this:

The Passion of the Christ: Blooper Reel

Paul Ford is a very funny guy.

And Keith Berry points out that, when it was a Democrat making use of images of victims in the "war on terror" -- namely, Dennis Kucinich's shots of body bags coming home from Iraq -- the right could barely contain itself.