Steven Weinberg said, “Without religion, good people would do good things and bad people would do bad things.”

“It takes religion,” he said, “to make good people do bad things.”

The late Nobel laureate was a renowned physicist and devout atheist.

I don’t often agree with him. But I agree that religion can make good people do bad things.

Nonbelievers are often kinder toward people with differences than Christians.

They are often accepting of gay folks and advocate for equal rights for women and people of all races and religions.

Give me a gracious atheist over a mean Christian any day.

But what makes some Christians mean?

The Bible.

That is, the Bible read by people who don’t know how to read it.

People who absolutely refuse to put Jesus first.

There are Old Testament passages that say people with disabilities must be kept away from worship.

A blind or a crippled person will defile a holy place. They don’t count as people.

Paul tells women to be submissive to men and to be quiet in church. They have a second-class existence.

The Book of Revelation paints God as warmonger, bloodthirsty, and vengeful.

In reading the Bible, we must always turn to Jesus for the final answer.

If we put Jesus first, we will know when Paul gets off track. We will know when a passage of scripture falls short.

Jesus is the standard.

He tells us that God loves all of us equally and unconditionally.

If Jesus is Lord, let him be lord of the scriptures also. Accept no substitutes.