Those silly Hebrews! They should have checked with the Greek philosophers on that one. Those enlightened souls could have told them that the liver is the seat of reason.

Yup, like Jacob, David, Solomon, and so many others, Gideon is not a model for ethical behavior. The idea that the heroes of the Bible were morally perfect and should serve as role-models for modern people is patently false. With a few notable exceptions, Bible heroes are deeply flawed people who succeed mostly through the grace of God.

The FFRF claims that the story of Jephthah is proof that the Bible sanctions human sacrifice. While it is a very disturbing story, it is more accurate to say that the Bible fails to comment on child sacrifice in this instance. Some scholars agree with the FFRF that God's silence in this story implies consent, but when the Bible does speak in Leviticus 18:21, Leviticus 20:3, Deuteronomy 12:30-31, and Deuteronomy 18:10 it is always to condemn the practice.

Historians have a hard time saying much about child sacrifice in ancient Israel or even in the ancient Middle East as a whole. We are confidant that the practice existed but don't know how common or widespread it was.

Thee FFRF presents 4 scriptures to back up their claim that God often demanded and received child sacrifice; they deserve to be looked at individually.

1) The story of Jephthah is tragic and horrible. The story comes from a very primitive time in Israel's history and presents a violent and tribalistic understanding of God. Even taking the story by itself, Jephthah does not come across as an admirable character. He is a proud man who makes foolish promises and suffers as a result. The book of Judges is filled with similarly grim stories and reflects a savage time in Israel's history. Perhaps this best summed up by the last line of the book: In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes. (Judges 21:25.)

2) The story of the Binding of Isaac is one of the most difficult to understand in the Bible. While the story has a happy ending, it begins on a terrible note as God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. Jewish tradition suggests this was meant to be a symbolic sacrifice but Abraham mistook it for a literal one. Modern Christian scholarship points out that this seems to be a combination of two older stories. When Abraham is told to sacrifice his son, the name used for God is "Elohim" but the name changes to "Yahweh" when God stops Abraham. In his book Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature literary critic Erich Auerbach suggests that there is a buried struggle between the gods of sacrifice (represented by Elohim) and the God of mercy. in this story. This seems to be a shift in the theology of the Hebrew people, from understanding God as one who demands terrible sacrifices, to a deity who cares about all people.

3) The FFRF says that Exodus 22:29 implies human sacrifice was performed, but the scripture goes on to say how the firstborn can be redeemed from this fate. The impulse to sacrifice firstborn sons to the gods seems to go back to pre-Jewish traditions. The idea of saving the children by redeeming them is a first step away from this practice. There's a good discussion of this here.

4) Hebrews 10 is one of the key verses for the doctrine of substitutionary atonement which compares Jesus' death on the cross to an Old Testament blood sacrifice.

The FFRF's objections refelct the fact that many Christians take this symbolism literally and claim that God must be appeased by blood. The truth is that Jesus' dies because he loved people enough to put himself in harm's way for their sake. The writers of the New Testament had to help the people of their world understand this so they used a metaphor they would understand--the image of blood sacrifice.

As modern people, many centuries removed from this ritual, we need a differnet metaphor to understand. Let's look at another martyr, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Most believers would agree that he was one of the most Christ-like leaders of the 20th century. He risked, and lost, his life because his faith in God and his love for his fellow man compelled risk himself for the sake of justice. While I'm not saying that Dr. King was another Christ, his personal sacrifice helps us to understand Jesus' sacrifice.

5) The story of David and the sons of Saul is a brutal one, but it is not the story of a religious sacrifice, it was a legal proceeding. Saul was guilty of genocidal raids against the Gibeonites, who should have been protected by a treaty. David went to the Gibeonites to ask how to atone for the damage the earlier king had done. Since Saul was dead they settled for executing seven of his grown sons.

This is pretty much accurate; the business with the foreskins is one of several gruesome traditions associated with warfare in the ancient Middle East. It's hardly unique to David, but there is no way to sugar coat it.

I do think the FFRF is missing the boat when they say that David is meant to be a role model, though. He is far from that, as anyone who has read his story knows. David was a very human mix of good and bad qualities and was rebuked by God on many occasions, notable in the story of Bathsheba and Uriah.