Why Bill Maher Keeps Getting It Wrong!

I would like to offer my thoughts as to why atheists like Bill Maher get it wrong every time. I like some of Maher's political commentary, but his dismissive attitude towards anyone with religious beliefs gets really old after a while. Finally, the other night he had, as a guest, Jim Wallis, founder of the Sojourners community in Washington, DC. I thought, "Finally, someone to stand up to Maher's questioning." Turns out, Wallis was not up to the task. He quoted great things that Jesus said, but could not respond to Maher's question, "How can you believe in a God who killed people and sent natural disasters and was a tyrant?" They skirted the issue of literal interpretation of scripture, because if one says that one should not take the scripture literally, Maher jumps in with a sweeping generalization that none of it is worthy of belief, in that case. Wallis blew a perfect opportunity to say that scripture is a "witness to revelation," that is, people of faith were inspired to write about their perceptions of God's dealings with humanity through history. Cultural norms and customs frame how we perceive God's activity. It happened then and it happens now. People in the Ancient Near East believed that natural disasters and other events that caused loss of life were God's activity and retribution for faithless living. Wallis could have mentioned Jesus' admonition that he "came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it." He expanded the understanding of God's actions and also talked about the human element in the formulation of the Law as recorded in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. What Jesus brought to the discussion was compassion, understanding and a sense of God's history, which in biblical terms, means past, present and future. One can never understand scripture without knowing about what was going on in the faith community, and in the larger world, at the time that it was written. Maher did say that he took a "course" on the Bible. Well Bill, I majored in it and have taken literally dozens of courses related to scripture, and I still have so much to learn. Sadly, many Bible studies on college and university campuses look at individual verses, and seek to interpret what was being said, without giving any attention to the context in which it was stated. My Bible studies challenge folks a bit more, because we look at the whole picture, and that causes more and more questions to arise, which makes us look at our understanding of our faith in new and sometimes challenging ways. My Bible studies are never as popular as the available "popcorn" approach of throwing out verses and asking what folks think they mean, but they can equip one to enter into serious dialogue when the Bill Maher's of the world come calling. Truth be told, I don't think Maher will ever find answers to his questions about the Bible that will satisfy him, because he has not spent his life in a faith community, wrestling with the scriptures, along with others, seeking to get every ounce of meaning out of them. I would be happy to have him attend one of my studies, I think we both would grow from the experience!