Just two short weeks ago, the Supreme Court decided that state bans on same sex marriage were unconstitutional. Many celebrated that decision, calling it a victory for equal rights. Others, however, wondered what kind of worm would be next to crawl out now that the can was open.
We expected bakers, caterers, photographers, and owners of popular wedding venues to face more and more lawsuits when they declined to provide services during same sex weddings. We expected pastors who refused to perform same sex ceremonies to face criticism, lawsuits, and threats of revoking the tax-exempt status of their churches.
I, for one, did not expect the lawsuit filed by ex-convict and author Bradley LaShawn Fowler. In two separate briefs, he filed suits seeking a combined $70 million in damages from Zondervan Publishing Company and Thomas Nelson Publishing. He claimed that both publishers violated his civil rights and engaged in malicious negligence in the publication of several revised versions of the Bible.
Fowler posits that their use of the term “homosexual” in 1 Corinthians 6:9 was added specifically to cause harm, and since the pastor of his family’s church preaches from a version that contains the word “homosexual,” his family has made him an outcast. His suit seeks compensation for 20 years of emotional distress and mental instability resulting from the publishers’ carelessness.
When approached regarding the lawsuit, a spokesman for Zondervan pointed out that the translator or translation team is responsible for the words. The publisher simply takes the text as it is given to them and mass produces it.
The text in question came to Zondervan via Biblica, Inc, a team of the most respected Bible scholars worldwide that has been in existence since 1809. Over 200 years, Biblica (formerly called the New York Bible Society) has “provided Bibles to U.S. immigrants in 65 languages over 135 years, given Bibles to soldiers during World War I and World War II, and provided over 4 million Bibles to people in the Soviet Union following the collapse.”
And to the scholars at Biblica, the translation of the Bible is anything but arbitrary. Several safeguards are listed on Biblica, Inc’s website – one in particular that will likely make Fowler’s suit against Zondervan an exercise in futility:
“The text is entrusted to the Committee on Bible Translation, a self-governing body of 15 evangelical scholars. No outside group – no publisher or commercial entity – can decide how it is translated.”
Changes to the text are not easy to come by either:
“Every change must be thoroughly vetted. All changes must receive the support of 70 percent of the translation team. Such a high threshold among a denominationally diverse team of scholars helps to protect the text from agendas, bias, and outside influence – ensuring that any changes are backed by the very best biblical scholarship.”
In regard to Fowler’s pending lawsuits – as with the same sex marriage case preceding, it seems that the question is not whether or not his case has merits – but rather, whether or not the court will let agenda carry more weight than the Constitution.
In regard to Fowler’s personal issues – if his pastor and his parents made him an outcast because they believed that the Word of God condemned his actions, they probably believe that the court has no power to effect change on said Word. And even if he is successful in bullying publishers and translators into changing the words that have “caused him emotional distress,” the Bible makes it clear that he will not be able to remove it from the minds of his pastor and his family, or even from his own heart and mind:
“This is the Covenant I will establish with the people of Israel, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” Hebrews 8:10
“Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts.” – Romans 2:14-15
