Quote Originally Posted by Nameless View Post
There is things that are purely human so to speak and there is things which religion support. Religion support and foster many of these issues actually and some of these things are damn dangerous, especially for those who take scripture to the letter. For example: A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed.
(Deuteronomy 22:13-21).

Yeah, Religion supports tons of dubious things, it is not only a metaphysics vague concept, it is damn pragmatic in our life, sometimes.
Yeah, I'm pretty certain that was a social more(pronouced moray, just in case you wanted to look it up) and it's probably still followed in some areas of the Middle East. So what I'm saying is religion didn't create that law but people in the area had that law for some reason, perhaps to manage their tribes and keep the peace, remember in that age arranged marriages were not uncommon so if you were to be wed to a woman that is supposed to be a virgin and you find out she's not a virgin....you're going to want your goats/camels/etc back. It was just a law of the time and place, much like it used to be a law that if someone stole your cattle they could be hanged....just an outdated barbaric law. The metaphores are what teach us.....Jonah and the Whale, is that not a good metaphore to teach? Don't run, don't hide from what scares you, what haunts you, what you feel you cannot stand up to, because if you don't stand and face it then it will have power over you and maybe your whole life, only when you decide to face what you were running from can you be free....that's a great moral story to teach and it's appicable to so many things in life and there are TONS of those metaphores in ALL faiths and all religions.