Religious Elitism

The annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature occurred this past month in Atlanta.  That is not noteworthy, but what leads up to and comes from this meeting is an harangue against those who accept the Bible as something to be believed and followed.  If you consider yourself, evangelical, confessional, or (shudder) fundamentalist, be prepared to have a cloth over your mouth and shout, "Unclean! Unclean!" going from one seminar to another. While my tone is hyperbolic, the outrage against biblical literalists being part of their ranks is palpable from the e-mails and blog postings I have seen.

An observation to that attitude was made at Pastoral Musings.  His main point is great:

The true issue is this;  when we read the Bible as it presents itself to us we find that it is confessional in nature.  It calls for us to believe in a Creator who is omnipotent, transcendent, omnipresent, benevolent, righteous, and holy.  There are many other things we are called to believe, as well.

Not only so, but the Bible claims that it can only be truly understood by people who are believers.…I find it somewhat strange, then, that those who do not believe in Jesus should complain about people who do believe in Jesus meeting with the SBL, presenting papers, and having meetings in conjunction with SBL.

I chuckled upon reading the post having had the same thoughts.  Check out the post.