The eager young men at Conservapedia are p.o.'d that the Bible might be seen as too liberal. So they've come up with the Wiki-style Conservative Bible Project, to make sure the Lord doesn't go all wobbly on us. Excerpt:
As of 2009, there is no fully conservative translation of the Bible which satisfies the following ten guidelines:[1]Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias
Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, "gender inclusive" language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity
Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level[2]
Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms as they develop;[3] defective translations use the word "comrade" three times as often as "volunteer"; similarly, updating words which have a change in meaning, such as "word", "peace", and "miracle"
Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction by using modern terms for it, such as "gamble" rather than "cast lots";[4] using modern political terms, such as "register" rather than "enroll" for the census
Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.
Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning
Exclude Later-Inserted Liberal Passages: excluding the later-inserted liberal passages that are not authentic, such as the adulteress story
Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels
Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities
Thus, a project has begun among members of Conservapedia to translate the Bible in accordance with these principles. The translated Bible can be found here.
"The liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio"? Hoo-wee! Elitists like to use words, and lots of 'em! "Unnecessary ambiguities"? But how are you going to abide by the conservative mandate to avoid "dumbing down" Holy Writ while at the same time avoiding big words liberals use?
More seriously, the insane hubris of this really staggers the mind. These right-wing ideologues know better than the early church councils that canonized Scripture? They really think it's wise to force the word of God to conform to a 21st-century American idea of what constitutes conservatism? These jokers don't worship God. They worship ideology. As Mark Shea says:
Right wing dementia marches on apace. Some of this has a grain of sense to it, as ideological madness always does. For instance, the dumb attempts to feminize Scripture are pernicious and need to stop. But seriously: the story of the woman taken in adultery is "liberal"? Free market as Sacred tradition? Liberal wordiness?
You really need to read the whole Conservapedia entry to grasp how crazy this is. It's like what you'd get if you crossed the Jesus Seminar with the College Republican chapter at a rural institution of Bible learnin'.
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What is particularly dangerous about this re-writing of the Bible is the admitted intent to "express 'free market' parables." If the intent were to change words like "cast lots" to "gambling" (they may be surprised to find the Bible does not condemn this practice--the apostles used it to replace Judas), although I may disagree as I do with the attempts to make the vocabulary gender neutral I wouldn't have a serious concern about it. However, the attempt to make God's Word support the ideology of capitalism as interpreted by the American Right Wing is both heretical and dangerous. One wonders if any of these people have ever read the Bible, and maybe that will be one positive outcome of the attempt at this translation. How are they going to handle the early church member selling all their goods and holding everything in common? Delete that like that story of the woman taken in adultery? How are they going to handle the verse that the love of money is the root of all evil? How are they going to handle the numerous passages in both the Old and New Testament which quote God Himself as speaking out against the financial oppression of the poor and needy? Probably, like the ruling oligarchy with Jeremiah's writings, they will just cut them out.
What makes these people dangerous is that they have powerful support, and it makes me worry about the possibility of a fascist movement in this country.
The Hebrew and Greek languages both provide a pronoun that refers to male and female with one word--"humanity." Yet this is often changed to "man" in modern translations. Such translations reflect no other agenda than remaining true to the original text. Thus, I would encourage the careful study of the original languages according to the intended meanings of the original writers to the original hearers-- That reflects what God intended.
Also, we all bring baggage and cultural lenses to the ways we interpret Scripture. It is as easy to bring conservative biases to interpretation as it is to bring liberal ones. Interestingly, Jesus' concern for women and children and invitation of all races (not just Jews) into God's Kingdom might parallel modern liberalism in certain ways. Conversely, stewarding of resources (wisely) might parallel modern conservatism in certain ways. I question God's Kingdom being shaped according to either political position. Should we not, rather, seek to adopt politics of heaven that may incorporate "liberal" or 'conservative" actions, to varying situations, as the Holy Spirit leads our interpretations of Scripture?
When conservatives attack all sources of information that disagree with their idealogy, charging that the media is biased and continually insisting that the truth is being hidden, this is bound to follow. Conservatives have effectively convinced their flock of sheep to deny any news or opinion that differs from idealogy. Well, then, how can you let the Bible stand? Gravity isn't safe from these know-nothings.
There are passages in the New Testament that refer to "anthropoi" (people) rather than "androi" (males) in the original Greek, and "homines" instead of "viri" in Jerome's Vulgate, but are translated as "men" in the King James Bible. Doesn't it make sense to replace a word that can mean either "people" or "males" with one that unambiguously retains the original meaning?
Mr. Dreyer, Conservapedia is now calling you a liar in no less than Jacobean English about being conservative, presumably because you had the gall to criticize their project: "Mr. Rod Dreher (who says that he is a conservative, and is not, but doth lie)" http://www.conservapedia.com/Essay:In_Answer_to_Joseph_L._Farah
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