Awkward: Bill Maher Makes Ralph Reed Defend Bible Verse On Slavery
As if liberals weren’t already having enough fun with weird Christian beliefs this week, Faith and Freedom Coalition head and Casino Jack Abramoff henchman Ralph Reed decided to test his luck as a guest on Über-Atheist Bill Maher’s Real Time. Reed was there to promote his new book, “Awakening: How America Can blah-blah-blah,” but Maher took the opportunity to make Reed defend Biblical principles like “Slaves, obey your masters” and “Everybody must get stoned… if they’re women accused of unmarried sexytime.”
Maher cited a recent Gallup poll that showed 28% of Americans responding that “The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word,” and asked Reed if he was one of them.
“Yes,” Reed replied, and the fun began.
“I made a little list,” Maher said, and proceeded to quiz a flat-footed Reid about several Bible verses. “Slaves must submit themselves to their masters, no matter how harsh,” he began, a sentiment that’s found in several places in the New Testament.
With a pricelessly pregnant pause (obviously a married pause) and a nervous smile, Reed replied that “This was a pretty spirited debate in the 19th century,” in much the same way that the American Revolution was a bit of a row with Mother England. “What occurred then, the slavery of ancient Rome, which Paul was writing about, was a very different kind of slavery, it wasn’t chattel slavery, it was usually a form of indentured servitude.”
To Maher’s protests of “C’mon, slavery is slavery,” Reed explained that the anti-slavery movement “came out of the churches.”
Yes, and so did the pro-slavery movement. Everything came out of the churches. Maher then moved on to the stoning of women who are accused of unmarried sex. Reed, after another deliciously awkward pause, deflected with the “cast the first stone” parable (which, if applied, would completely invalidate the entire criminal justice system), and invoked the Old Testament/New Testament “new covenant ” dodge.
“I just didn’t know that’s how it worked,” Maher said, “that Jesus had to come along to say to him ‘Dad, your shit is wack!'”
Maher’s latent racism and frequent dumbassery aside, helping religious nuts make themselves look stupid is one of his real strengths. He only had so much time to spend on Reed, but it’s worth noting that…READ MORE
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By: Tommy Christopher
Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
14 responses to Awkward: Bill Maher Makes Ralph Reed Defend Bible Verse On Slavery
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Shades June 8th, 2014 at 15:56
Reed is a fine one to accuse Maher of cherry picking. He excuses slavery by suggesting the old testament doesn’t count. If that’s true, why are they still up in arms about homosexuality while conveniently overlooking that shellfish thing.
Dwendt44 June 8th, 2014 at 20:32
Right, and the Ten Commandments are also in the Old Testament. Either the Old Testament applies or the Ten Commandments do not.
granpa.usthai June 8th, 2014 at 20:48
it’s kinda like the young earthers reasoning about brother/sister incest and Lot’s double daughters not being wrong because the law had not yet been given, Dwendt. Doesn’t exactly explain why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah or drowned out the whole world except for a selected few,
butt-
if you can picture in your mind’s eye, Mitt Romney hanging off a big azz pole with a big fish hook in his mouth just a flipping and a flopping, it’ll give you an indication of how the what ever feels good for the moment church religion works. Why go with an either or when you can just make it up as you go along?
Shades June 8th, 2014 at 15:56
Reed is a fine one to accuse Maher of cherry picking. He excuses slavery by suggesting the old testament doesn’t count. If that’s true, why are they still up in arms about homosexuality while conveniently overlooking that shellfish thing.
Dwendt44 June 8th, 2014 at 20:32
Right, and the Ten Commandments are also in the Old Testament. Either the Old Testament applies or the Ten Commandments do not.
granpa.usthai June 8th, 2014 at 20:48
it’s kinda like the young earthers reasoning about brother/sister incest and Lot’s double daughters not being wrong because the law had not yet been given, Dwendt. Doesn’t exactly explain why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah or drowned out the whole world except for a selected few,
butt-
if you can picture in your mind’s eye, Mitt Romney hanging off a big azz pole with a big fish hook in his mouth just a flipping and a flopping, it’ll give you an indication of how the what ever feels good for the moment church religion works. Why go with an either or when you can just make it up as you go along?
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid June 9th, 2014 at 10:44
What? “It’s worth noting…” What? The article just dead-ended.
BanditBasheert June 9th, 2014 at 12:03
You’re right .. there is no END! Alan!!!!
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid June 9th, 2014 at 10:44
What? “It’s worth noting…” What? The article just dead-ended.
BanditBasheert June 9th, 2014 at 12:03
You’re right .. there is no END! Alan!!!!
Judgeforyourself37 June 9th, 2014 at 15:46
Maher could have listed numerous other “biblical laws,” which, by the way were written by the MEN of that day, and no longer apply in today’s world. Reed would have had silly excuses, for them, just as he had for the “laws” that Maher stated.
Judgeforyourself37 June 9th, 2014 at 15:46
Maher could have listed numerous other “biblical laws,” which, by the way were written by the MEN of that day, and no longer apply in today’s world. Reed would have had silly excuses, for them, just as he had for the “laws” that Maher stated.
jumbojimbo June 9th, 2014 at 23:05
..a recent Gallup poll that showed 28% of Americans responding that “The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word,”
“On the first day God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
-Yeah fine, creates The Sun-seems the logical thing to start with…
“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night..And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
-Excuse me…? Errrr…ummm…but? What the fu…
Calm down! Do you think you’re the first person in the last 2,000 years that’s cried it’s inconsistent, it’s illogical; And no it isn’t a Biblical flaw, let alone a fatal flaw, either. The Bible IS the literal word of God, but you’re literally taking it the wrong way. My good Kafir, the Bible teaches us “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” The above doesn’t diminish; it only strengthens the belief of God’s omnipotence.
-That is some explanation! Sorry, it’s my fault, my mistake-literally reading too much into something. So I think I’ve got this right. You believe the Bible is the literal truth of the biblical Genesis-an exact, word-for-word, verbatim account. BUT any part of the Bible that might contradict or refute such an exacting truth was obviously meant to be interpreted strictly in its approximate literal sense, figuratively speaking, in a metaphorical way, so to speak.
The only logical truths and principles The Bible religiously teaches anyone about The Bible is just how full of shit it is . In fact it would probably serve a more productive, useful life, if used as a replacement to toilet paper.
jumbojimbo June 9th, 2014 at 23:05
..a recent Gallup poll that showed 28% of Americans responding that “The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word,”
“On the first day God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
-Yeah fine, creates The Sun-seems the logical thing to start with…
“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night..And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
-Excuse me…? Errrr…ummm…but? What the fu…
Calm down! Do you think you’re the first person in the last 2,000 years that’s cried it’s inconsistent, it’s illogical; And no it isn’t a Biblical flaw, let alone a fatal flaw, either. The Bible IS the literal word of God, but you’re literally taking it the wrong way. My good Kafir, the Bible teaches us “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” The above doesn’t diminish; it only strengthens the belief of God’s omnipotence.
-That is some explanation! Sorry, it’s my fault, my mistake-literally reading too much into something. So I think I’ve got this right. You believe the Bible is the literal truth of the biblical Genesis-an exact, word-for-word, verbatim account. BUT any part of the Bible that might contradict or refute such an exacting truth was obviously meant to be interpreted strictly in its approximate literal sense, figuratively speaking, in a metaphorical way, so to speak.
The only logical truths and principles The Bible religiously teaches anyone about The Bible is just how full of shit it is . In fact it would probably serve a more productive, useful life, if used as a replacement to toilet paper.