#32: Genesis 18 & 19 In The Bible (Sodom and Gomorrah) Versus Mary Daly

This is a paper I wrote for my Religions class. I thought the idea was pretty interesting. My view, in its entirity, about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in The Bible is that God was upset with all the violence in the town, not the gay acts. I think he was upset about the violence/rape in general, including the violence/rape against women. And Religions theorist Daniel Helminiak suggested, in his book What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality, that inhospitality may have been the reason, or at least part of the reason, why God destroyed the town in the story. I don't believe it had anything to do with anyone being gay, even though that's the common belief of southern Christians. But this paper is a summary of the story of Sodom and Gomorroah and an account of what Mary Daly, a feminist philosopher and theologian, would think of it. So, here you go.

Genesis 18 and 19 in The Bible is a story about a town full of misguided people who, because of their sins, are forced to suffer the wrath of God. Only the good people, the followers of God, were spared from the tragedy. American feminist philosopher, academic, and theologian Mary Daly had her own views on different stories of The Bible, and it is my intention to analyze Genesis 18 and 19 from her point of view (Mary Daly). There is incredible significance in the story of Genesis 18 and 19 and Daly’s views, because it may help Christians and theologians understand The Bible and the true beliefs of God better.

The story of Genesis 18 and 19 opens with Abraham greeting three men at his home. Abraham is kind to them, and one of them tells Abraham that his wife, Sarah, will have a child. Since Sarah is too old for childbearing, she laughs in disbelief. God reveals to Abraham his plan to destroy the town of Sodom, because the city has run rampant with sin. Abraham pleads with God not to destroy a town that may be home to some good people, along with the bad. God reassures Abraham that he will spare the entire town to save any number of good people living there. God sends two angels into the city to investigate, and they find Lot, who offers them his home and is kind to them. The townspeople gather at Lot’s door, threatening to break it down, and demanding that Lot hand over his visitors, so that they may rape them. Lot offers his daughters to them instead, claiming that it would be a horrible sin to rape his visitors, who are under his care. The angels evacuate Lot and his family from their home and urge them to escape before God destroys the town. As they flee, God warns them not to look back at the town as he destroys it, but Sarah looks back and turns into a pillar of salt.

Many southern Christians maintain that God destroyed the town of Sodom, because of the incredible amount of sinful behaviors happening there, namely the homosexual acts of the townspeople. It is a common teaching in southern Christian churches that homosexuality is a sin, and therefore, is punishable by God. Revealed in an interview with Whitley Grimes, a Southern Baptist young woman from Columbus, Georgia, who is well-read on The Bible, Grimes takes the common Christian belief one step farther and contends that God destroyed the town of Sodom because of sins such as “homosexuality, violence, etc” (Grimes). However, analysts of The Bible seem to neglect the idea that God may have destroyed the town based on the violence against, not only other men, but women as well.

Mary Daly, if given the opportunity to analyze the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, would probably argue that God’s biggest issue with the town, besides all the violence in general, was the mistreatment of women. For instance, when the townspeople of Sodom gather around Lot’s house and demand he release his (male) visitors so that the townspeople can rape them, Lot protects the men he has just met, and offers his own daughters to the angry crowd, explaining to them, “I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof” (Genesis 18 & 19). Daly would argue that this blatant disregard for the lives, bodies, choices, and feelings of women, along with the point of view that “makes women into objects” (Daly, 46), are what God considered an abomination. She would argue that God’s reasoning for destroying the city of Sodom was to destroy the sins against women, and to make way for new life in a new town of people with opposite values and beliefs.

This story and what I would imagine to be Mary Daly’s view on the story are significant in helping, not only theologians, but Christians as well, to understand what may have been the true intentions and beliefs of God. If Christians look at the story of Genesis 18 and 19 through the eyes of Daly, they may have a new perspective on what is truly a sin. They may realize that homosexuality may not have ever been a problem in God’s eyes, and that God may have been more concerned with crimes against women. This knowledge and understanding of God’s true beliefs as to what is and what is not a sin may serve to reshape society for the better, so as to bring about more equality between homosexuals and heterosexuals, as well as between men and women.

Now that you've read my paper on the topic, I have something else for you to think about, which I didn't include in the paper: My projected view of Daly's perspective on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah has a flaw. Why would God destroy the town based on crimes against women and then save the man who offered his daughters up for rape? That doesn't make sense. So God probably wasn't just upset over the crimes against women. It makes sense that he would be upset with the inhospitality of the townspeople, since he saved the only man who showed hospitality in the town. However, it could also be argued that God was upset with the collective crimes and violence in the town, and that he saved the one man who was good in, at least, some ways. Maybe he was the lesser of all the evils. Who knows? But what I'm getting at is that this story, like so many others in The Bible, is contradictory to other parts of The Bible, which teach forgiveness and understanding. If we are to believe in such a god, aren't we to believe he wouldn’t destroy people for their sins? Afterall, it does say in The Bible that God will always forgive us of our sins. But in this scripture, God doesn’t even give these people a chance to turn their lives around. He’s simply knocking them off, without any sense of humanity, remorse, or forgiveness for these poor, misguided people. This is yet another reason NOT to take The Bible literally, but to take the morals from it.

Works Cited

Daly, Mary. "Exorcising Evil from Eve: The Fall into Freedom." Beyond God the Father:

Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation. Boston: Beacon, 1985. 46. Print.

"Genesis 18 & 19." The Holy Bible. Vol. King James Version. Glasgow: Collins, 1989. 23. Print.

Grimes, Whitley E. "What Is the Traditional Southern Christian View on the Story of Sodom and

Gomorrah?" Telephone interview. 15 Apr. 2012.

"Mary Daly." Mary Daly: Radical Feminist Philosopher. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.

This is HILARIOUS. And it is very well put. I definitely got the message. And whoever wrote Leviticus was extremely disturbed. Most of all the crazy seems to be coming from that part of the Bible.

I made this graphic design for my 2-D Design class freshman year of college. I think it's pretty clever.