Intolerance in the Bible (Part 1): Deuteronomy 13:13-17

This is the first part of a series of blog posts; the focus (as stated in the title) is on Bible verses that fuel intolerance of others. A real gem is found in the book of Deuteronomy...

that some worthless people of your nation have misled the people of their town to worship gods that you have never worshiped before. If you hear such a rumor, investigate it thoroughly; and if it is true that this evil thing did happen, then kill all the people in that town and all their livestock too. Destroy that town completely. Bring together all the possessions of the people who live there and pile them up in the town square. Then burn the town and everything in it as an offering to the LORD your God. It must be left in ruins forever and never again be rebuilt. Do not keep for yourselves anything that was condemned to destruction, and then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy. He will be merciful to you and make you a numerous people, as he promised your ancestors, -Deuteronomy 13:13-17

This quote reflects how intolerant the Bible is towards those that do not believe in it — it instructs Believers to commit complete annihilation on those that do not. I'm sure these verses have been used in the past to justify nasty behavior. I suppose the mindset of Believers is: "if it's in the Bible it must be moral". Those that look for morality in an old book, will tune out the real source of morality — which comes from within. Those that are truly moral do not need a holy-book to know not to rape and murder. They know not to steal, not because they were told so in church — if this was not the case, prisons would be full of nonbelievers (tends to be the opposite). 

The real motivation here for the religious is: "and then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy. He will be merciful to you and make you a numerous people, as he promised your ancestors,". The religious moral is: if you completely destroy people that are "different", God will be nice to you. People love to get rewarded, for some, they will commit disgusting acts, for personal benefit (it's a shame empathy isn't a commandment). This is sort of like a father not liking one of his sons, and wanting his favorite son to kill this brother (but remember, this father is all-loving). The 'favorite son' kills his brother. Who is worse: the 'favorite son'? or the father?