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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   21626 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 2026

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And other disgusting traditional Pushtun practices. I'm not sure whether Bacha Bazi was the most important, or just the one which made most sense to western audiences seeking an explanation for Taliban popularity.

The modern argument about how Abrahamic religion handles male homosexuality is odd because both sides' core claims are correct.

  • The trads are correct that the holy books of all the Abrahamic religions condemn all forms of male-male sex, that if you give the key passages (the so-called "clobber passages" in the OT and NT and equivalents in the Talmud and hadith) their simple, obvious meaning the condemnation is unequivocal, and there is nothing else in the holy books that would suggest not giving the clobber passages their simple, obvious meaning.
  • The LGBT lobby is correct that the actual historical practice being condemned by these passages at the time they were written (i.e. the machismo-based homosexuality of which Bacha Bazi is the Pushtun manifestation, and which while not universal was a cross-cultural default before Abrahamic religion) looks nothing like 21st century gayness-based male homosexuality, creating a colourable "originalist" argument that the original intent of the clobber passages doesn't extend that far.

Given the long-standing theological argument about higher criticism, the Christian trads (definitely) and the LGBT crowd (probably) are interpreting the Bible correctly according to their own standard interpretive methodologies.

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