Religion to me always seemed more trivial then worthy of any high status in my life. In the early years of my life our family never forced ourselves into a “Church Sunday” contract; this could account for my views today, but then again, maybe not. Christians want to save, but ostracize and alienate in the process of trying. Ridiculing somebody that they cannot become Christian because they are “sub-standard” in God’s eyes is more dehumanizing than some war-time atrocities. You ask them to change themselves before God can change you, why? I realize I might have been an extremely harsh by comparing this to war-time atrocities; make no mistake, some people take it as such. These are my own personal opinions however.
As for literal translations of the bible, they are wrong. Take this article for example (it is on an atheist website, it quotes the bible. As to whether the quotes are ripped word for word is up to you to find out)
http://www.atheistalliance.org/humor/dr_laura.html
Ironically, this letter is in response to the Leviticus homosexuality argument that the original poster talks about.
"Here's the blunt truth: everyone uses stereotyping. It's a psychological tool that is built into the human psyche to speed up thought processes. It's a defense mechanism. You cannot escape it unless you somehow slow down your thoughts and rethink them every time you consider opening your mouth or typing a sentence. You're never going to escape your stereotypes."
Also, stereotyping also allows for (strangely) our own social systems to be set up on a stable hierarchical system. Hopefully you can see my idea for this...its pretty far-fetched. In my mind it works.