We haven’t had a rant about religion here for a while.
But my sermon today is taken from the book of Leviticus. And this isn’t really a rant. I’m just going to tell you something about Leviticus that some readers may not already know.
Leviticus is a document that gives a valuable insight into the lives and morals of the desert-dwelling Jews of the middle-east during the time of Moses the law-giver. It purports to be ‘the word of God‘, though it takes no imagination at all to understand that it is, in fact, the word of Moses and/or his non-divine associates and heirs. However, a simple enough way to have one’s primitive followers accept what one says is to aver that it comes directly from God, and Moses doesn’t miss this trick, the book repeatedly asserting that “The Lord spake unto Moses………“.
So, 3000 years later, we either have to accept that Leviticus is the word of God, containing law supplementary to that contained in the 10 commandments (the statutory instruments of God’s law, so to speak), or, it’s just sensible rules laid down by the local patriarch (big man) which had local application only.
If it does contain God’s statutory instruments then he hasn’t revised them for a while - in fact there’s been no new legislation since Moses, (nowadays we jail people if they say they’ve heard the voice of God)and all the old stuff is still on the books.
Thus, it is apparently still taboo to touch menstruating (or ‘unclean’ as God has it) women (chapter 15). Indeed, it’s forbidden to touch their bed or anything that they’ve sat on. And then, at the end of her period, the woman has to em, er, take a turtle or a pigeon to church to be burnt as atonement for her uncleanness (sorry, am I reading this right?)
And apparently eating shellfish is an abomination - chapter 11.
And, of course, so is homosexuality - chapter 18
Indeed it is forbidden to wear clothes made of a mixture of linen and wool - chapter 19
If you sleep with your mother-in-law then both you and she are to be burned to death - chapter 20
This is all God’s word, you know.
But I won’t bore you any more with this, though there’s plenty more if you want it - see my previous posting about the absurdity of applying Leviticus to the present day -
http://almax.wordpress.com/2007/04/25/scottish-elections-onward-christian-soldiers/
OK, so the philosophical position of this blog is that Leviticus is no more the ‘word of God’ than the Dandy or the Beano. It is no more ‘the Law’ than the Bunty or the Judy. Insofar as it purports to be ‘the word’ or ‘the law’ it is bullshit.
So what has the book of Leviticus got to do with Scottish Law, as per the title of this posting?
Well, try this as an Act of the Scottish Parliament enacted in 1567 :-
ITEM, Forsameikle as the abhominable, vile, and filthie lust of Incest, is sa abhominable in the presence of God, and that the samin Eternal God, be his expresse word, hes condemned the samin, and zit nevertheless the said vice is sa used within this Realme, and the word of God is in sik sort contemned be the users thereof, that God be his just judgements hes occasioun to plague the Realme, where the said vice is committed, without God of his mercie be mair gracious, and remeid be provided, that the said vice cease in time cumming. THEREFOIR our Soveraine Lord, with advise and consent of my Lord Regent, and the three Estaites of this present Parliament, statutes and ordaines, that quhat-sumever person or persones, that committes the said abhominable cryme of Incest, That is to say, quhat-sumever person or persones they be, that abuses their bodie with sik persones in degrie, as God in his word hes expresslie forbidden, in ony tyme cumming, as is contained in the xviij. Chapter of Leviticus, sall be punished to the death.
For those of you not used to reading medieval Lowland Scots, here is a slightly more modern translation :-
ITEM, Forsomuch as the abominable, vile, and filthy lust of Incest, is so abominable in the presence of God, and that the same Eternal God, by his express word, has condemned the same, and yet nevertheless the said vice is so used within this Realm, and the word of God is in such sort contemned by the users thereof, that God by his just judgments has occasion to plague the Realm, where the said vice is committed, without God of his mercy be more gracious, and remedy be provided, that the said vice cease in time coming; THEREFORE our Sovereign Lord, with advice and consent of my Lord Regent, and the three Estates of this present Parliament, statutes and ordains, that whatsomever person or persons, that commits the said abominable crime of Incest, That is to say, whatsomever person or persons they be, that abuses their body with such persons in degree, as God in his word has expressly forbidden, in any time coming, as is contained in the 18th Chapter of Leviticus, shall be punished to the death.
In other words, the 18th chapter of Leviticus was incorporated in total into Scots Law in 1567, and the penalty for doing any of the things proscribed by Leviticus was death : and people were put to death under this law.
Here, for the scripturally challenged are some of the highlights of chapter 18 of Leviticus -
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.
The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.
The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.
The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.
Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.
Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.
Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her.
And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
So there you have it - according to Leviticus, for example, thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife - and according to the 1567 Act the penalty in Scotland for doing that was death - and that was God’s word.
So what? - I hear you ask.
Well, Leviticus remained the law in Scotland up until the 1567 Act was repealed in 1986 !! (though the death penalty had been reduced to life imprisonment in the late 19th century). Right up until 1986 people were regularly being convicted under Leviticus in the High Court in Scotland, and it is still possible for people to be convicted under the old Act for offences committed before 1986.
This posting is partially a reaction to the recent stream of tripe emanating from both major sects of Christianity - the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal O’Brien have been in the news recently meddling in political affairs.
Clerics should remain in their fantasy world and leave the rest of us alone.
