Bible (Mis)used as a Weapon Then & Now

The Bible has been used and abused as a weapon in human arguments since – well, biblical times.  It was certainly invoked by both sides during the Civil War, argues Henry Brinton, pastor of the Fairfax [VA] Presbyterian Church, a Covenant congregation, in a recent opinion piece in USA Today.Both northern and southern pastors defended their positions on slavery with ample biblical citations.The Bible should indeed inform our thoughts and decisions, says Brinton; but it is all too easy and too common to use it to score points in human disagreements – including over same-gender relationships, ecology, and the death penalty.