CONSERVATIVES often quote the BIBLE...

[CJCRANE]

but I've never heard them extensively quote or talk about the overall message of CHRIST* himself


*You know, the guy who gives their avowed religion its name.

[justiceischeap]

1. I say this all the time, If christ came back today

he'd be labeled a dirty, hippy liberal by conservatives and run out of town.

[Iggo]

9. They'd nail him to a tree...

...for saying "Everybody be nice for a change."

[secondwind]

2. They have a different Bah-bull than the rest of us. n/t

[Scuba]

3. They prefer Leviticus over the Gospels.

[CJCRANE]

6. Then they should call themselves Leviticans

or Old Testamenters instead.

[sarge43]

4. They selectively quote the Bible

Those passages which don't support their rant du jour are never mentioned, re Matthew 6:5-6

[CJCRANE]

5. I'm not religious but

so many quotes I remember from my childhood (from the Gospels) directly contradict the conservative take on things.

IMO they should back up their claims with quotes from the guy they supposedly follow.

[cbayer]

8. Agree. Let's just start with the Golden Rule.

[baldguy]

7. And Matthew 25:41-45

Matthew has a lot of good stuff:

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/mt/good_list.html

[ChadwickHenryWard]

10. The Bible is not a good source of moral thinking.

To use an often-cited example, it repeatedly endorses slavery but never condemns it. Any schoolchild today can explain why slavery is wrong.

The fact is that the Bible, especially the Old Testament, was written by ignorant, pre-scientific Bronze Age desert nomads living on the opposite side of the Earth some 3000 years ago. This is an exceptionally remote, in time and place, source for moral ideas. They lacked the academic or intellectual wherewithal to develop any kind of enlightened or advanced moral ideas. At this point, the ideas in the Bible seem very archaic and provincial. I would question their place in a modern society.