Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing

Hmm…well, first, I’d like to see these studies and who they were commissioned by…as someone who works in marketing and does a lot of marketing research and also works with a lot of scientific literature in my job, I know that you can manipulate sample populations and research questions to make a research study say just about whatever you want…that’s not to say the studies that you’re citing are unfair in that way, but it’s hard to say without examining them.

That said, there are certainly a wide range of Christians out there - and there are certainly some who aren’t very knowledgeable about the faith they profess to have. But, I’d also argue that exact knowledge of the Old Testament laws you cite isn’t as essential for a Christian (although a Christian should read and be familiar with the entire Bible) because of God’s New Covenant with mankind through Jesus Christ. There are multiple sections throughout the New Testament where Jesus either clarifies the laws of the Old Testament or makes it clear that Christians are not bound by these old laws.

From Ephesians 2:14-18: “For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. ¹⁵He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. ¹⁷So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; ¹⁸for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Now, if you find a Christian who is ignorant of Christ’s teachings - well, that is an issue in my opinion. But most of the rules that people like to bring up when they’re trying to condemn Christianity are things they dig out of the Old Testament - and that, in my opinion, shows a lack of complete understanding of the Christian faith, because the New Covenant in Christ replaces those laws with Jesus’s teachings.

Now, the head covering law you mention IS also mentioned in the New Testament - in one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. Paul establishes a lot of laws for the original Christian church in those letters and, yes, there are some denominations and churches that take those literally. I’m not a Biblical literalist though - first of all, there are far too many internal contradictions in the Bible for you to possibly take every word literally - you’ll run yourself in circles. And, as I noted above, if Jesus clarifies or abolishes an Old Testament rule, how can you take both literally? Do you follow Jesus or the Old Testament law? You can’t do both.

Second, the Bible is a book written by men - inspired by God - but written by men. And those men were products of the time in which they lived. There are practices and things in the Bible that, in my opinion and the opinion of the church (Protestant - Presbyterian) that I attend, are more products of that time than they are letters of a law we must follow today. Or, the interpretation and meaning of them during the time that they were written is not the same as it would be today. We have a responsibility to read Scripture not literally, but with the knowledge that the Holy Spirit will guide us in discerning God’s true meaning.

More on that from this church’s website - it’s a good resource for how Presbyterians interpret the Bible: http://www.hpchurch.org/001whatwebelievetheBible.html - I particularly like the emphasis in the Presbyterian church on scholarship and learning as critical to Biblical interpretation. And we are ALWAYS learning.

Kind of a long answer, I know, but I hope it addresses some of the good points you brought up.

To get back to the song…maybe I’m wrong, but I just don’t think Soupy has thought about any of this enough to be making the statements he’s making. Not to mention that the statements he’s making are wrong - they simply do NOT apply to all Christians.