Deuteronomy Chapter 13

As I buzzed recently, Deuteronomy Chapter 13 is one of the most fascinating parts of the Judeo-Christio-Islamic tradition. Among other things, Yahweh (i.e., God), speaking directly, says the following in crystal clear language:

• Ignore all future prophets, for they are false prophets. You know, like Jesus or Mohammad.

• If any of your relatives urge you to worship “other Gods” then kill them and make sure everybody else hears about it so that all may fear. The instructions for dealing with atheists and agnostics are a little unclear, though the general tone suggests that even atheists are not to be spared.

• If you hear about other Gods emerging in any city, then investigate the matter. If it turns out to be true, destroy the city entirely.

While much of the violence in the Old Testament is more of the “show, don’t tell” variety, with Biblical heroes engaging in inspirational forms of violence, Deuteronomy Chapter 13 is one of the starkest examples of clear explicit unambiguous instructions to kill individuals and destroy cities if they don’t share a belief in and a desire to worship Yahweh.

This is the Bible that, according to Gallup polls over the last 20 years, somewhere between 25% and 35% of the US population claim to believe is the actual word of God and is meant to be taken literally (as I buzzed recently, and have reiterated in many previous blog posts). This is in contrast to about 45-50% of the US population that believes that the Bible is “inspired” by the word of God, and about 20% of the population that believes that the Bible is a collection of ancient fables, legends, and history recorded by Man. Other polls, such as a 2005 Rasmussen poll find a higher percentage of literal belief in the Bible — 63% — but this may partly be due to the absence of an attractive intermediate option.

So here is the logic:

• About 25% — or more– of people in the US claim to believe that the Bible is the actual word of God, meant to be taken literally. In sophisticated theological terms, they believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.

• Translations of the Bible into English and almost all other widely spoken languages are available for free online (here, here, here, here, and here, for starters) and in a wide variety of print formats readily accessible throughout the United States. Most people is the US, even if functionally illiterate, can understand spoken English or some other language spoken. Read-aloud versions and recordings of the Bible are also available (here and here, for instance). Thus, the people who claim to believe that the Bible are in a position to access the Bible.

• Deuteronomy Chapter 13 unequivocally commands people to kill those among their relatives who worship other Gods, and destroy entire cities if the worship of other Gods is found there.

Assuming the Gallup poll is correct, the implications are clear: these people either stand behind Deuteronomy Chapter 13, or they don’t know what is in the Bible despite claiming that it is the actual word of God and being able to readily access it, or they’re just lying to pollsters. None of these options seems particularly flattering.

In a subsequent blog post, I will mention some attempts by sophisticated Christians (of the Michael Novak type) to defend the Bible.

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