Voices

Truck driver has nothing on murderous, petty, misogynist God

GUILFORD — It's ironic that Suzie Webster-Toleno, M.Div., finds a contraindication to “our culture of toxic masculinity” in Scripture.

Beginning with God's complicity in the classic blackmail scheme of Abraham and Sarah, in which they shame the noble Pharaoh into buying them off with uncountable riches (a scam they repeated years later with King Abimelich), the deity in which she finds examples to assuage revengeful rage is Himself the quintessential enraged avenger.

“My name is Jealous,” He informs us, as gay-loving Sodom is reduced to rubble and His minion, future King David, murders 200 Palestinians in an overtly racist act, to buy his bride from Saul as Papa Yaweh nods in approval.

The man who displays his hatred on his truck has nothing on the murderous, petty, misogynist God in whom Ms. Webster-Toleno finds solace. Without effort, he could also find his inspiration from the Biblical authority she cites.

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