This is a genuine question, because one of the reasons I left Christianity (I was raised Christian) was that I didn’t like how they hate gay people, are pro-life, etc., and overall are pretty hypocritical. But as I got older, I realized there are Catholics who are pro-choice, aren’t homophobic, and don’t have an issue with having sex before marriage, etc., and basically are not stereotypical religious people at all. But I have to ask—how do they justify this? I mean, it must be very confusing, because if the Bible does say being gay is a sin and you are not homophobic and are pro-LGBTQ+, then you are basically saying sinning is okay, which goes against their very religion. How about Catholics who swear? Basically, how do liberal Christians/Catholics justify their religion? Why be religious if you aren’t going to go all in?
all Christians pick and choose what to take at face value, and what to take in context from the Bible. The Bible permits and arguably advocates for slavery in several places. Mosaic law forbids wearing blended fabric.
Also there is both a reference to an abortifacient and an explanation that an induced abortion is required to be performed by a priest in the case of Adultery (Numbers, lots of English translations obfuscate this detail)
Lots of leftist Catholics i’ve met consider the words of Jesus to trump all other passages, similar to how Muslims give different credence to different Hadith depending on the purported witness. In this reading it’s pretty easy to come to a mostly left-leaning worldview.
I would also add that Catholics in general do not consider the Bible to be literally true descriptions of events that actually happened. Most Catholics, including most Catholic theologians, see the Bible as the word of God, but the stories contained within range from entirely allegorical to semi-historical, but even then still largely allegorical.
Could not agree more - Christianity is supposed to be about the teachings of Jesus.
The vast majority of the Bible is not about that stuff, but it provides context for it.
Jesus taught respect for others and unconditional love. Surprisingly, Penny Arcade probably summed it up in the most succinct way I’ve ever seen it phrased: "Jesus says “don’t be a dick” ".
Someone would have to be delusional to look at the people that Jesus mixed with and advocated for, and conclude that he wouldn’t have similarly defended the marginalised groups of our time.