"Bible-Based" Culture

 All the time there are voices around us calling for a change to build a society based on "Biblical Values" or a "Biblical Worldview".

SOmetimes those voices become louder or more prominent than others. One example of this would be Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk. Another would be last week's Alberta Christian Leadership Summit. [SIde Note, a friend and colleague of mine attended this Summit and here are his thoughts.]

Now there are a number of problems with this quest to build society on some "Biblical Worldview".  Among them:

1. It is arguable that there is not one Biblcal Worldview, that the full text of Scripture contains multiple worldviews
2. It is not in doubt that in modern Christianity (in North America these voices always claim to speak for all of 'true' Christians) there are multiple understandings of what one means by Biblical Values or a Biblical Worldview
3. In a pluralistic world it is wholly inappropriate to build society around one religious set of standards
4. Theocracy damages both the faith community and tradition it claims to support and the pluralistic community it is imposed upon.

However I do believe that as people who are guided and informed by our faith we are called to consider the type of world God would have us live in. As people who pray "thy kingdom come on earth" we have an obligation to consider what we mean.

So from time to time I do ponder what a society shaped by Biblical values (as I understand them) might look like...

Such a society would be shaped wholly by love of Creation, the world that God loves.
It would be a place where the newcomer, the stranger, the wanderer, the refugee, the immigrant would be welcomed into the community.
It would not be about enforcing homogeneity, it would name and accept pluralism.
Discussions of Human Sexuality would be focussed on respectful relationships instead of rules and traditions
In this society there would be strong rules and laws ensuring that all are provided for, that their basic needs are met. In Torah there were rules about not harvesting too well, to leave produce for the gleaners to find later -- what is the 21st century equivalent of gleaning?
We would take seriously the stewardship of the earth as commanded in Genesis, we would only take what we need as commanded with the manna in Exodus.
We would know that allowing great inequality is a problem.
We would encourage sharing of things in common so that all would benefit (See Acts 2)
We would be encouraged to subsume self in favour of community, or at least to find a new balance between the two. WE not ME

WHat might you add?