You say: “Are you tempted to deny equal rights to women and homosexuals? Would you be ok with a woman being appointed as an elder in your church? If not, then you’ve already succumbed to the temptation of misogyny. You didn’t recognize it as temptation because your book spells out that women aren’t allowed in church leadership.”

I say: no, I’m not tempted to deny equal rights to women and homosexuals, yet I do take the teaching of scripture to be authoritative on all matters of faith and practice. You seem to be assuming that Christians must take on board every law of the OT as a law that ought to be in effect in our current culture; but that is just a terrible way of thinking about Christian ethics. If that is how you think it is supposed to work, I’m not surprised you’re an atheist. Large-scale universal principles clearly intended to be applicable beyond their cultural context (e.g., 10 commandments) are fair game for Christian moral reasoning, but other stuff is more delicate, particularly since Jesus came to announce the kingdom of God, and that kingdom has a particular kind of ethic–I think exemplified in 3rd Isaiah (which was constantly on Jesus’s lips) and the Sermon on the Mount–which differs markedly from much of the specific law (though, I would argue, not the over-arching principles) in the Torah. So, I don’t think that Christians are obliged in any way to take their moral cues from the specific laws in the Torah that you seem to have in mind. Those were for then, not for now. I don’t have time/space to say more here (though I could say much more), but the bottom line is that if you don’t account for some sort of profound change in ethical practice brought about by Jesus, then you have missed much of Christianity and you and I are just not talking about the same worldview.

Now, setting aside (for the reasons I just noted) the OT passages that might (erroneously) make you think Christians should oppress women and homosexuals, there is nothing in Jesus’s teachings or the NT in general that would make one think Christians should deny the rights of women and homosexuals. Denial of rights is a legal issue not a moral issue, and the NT gives us next to no guidance as to how we ought to legislate. So, why not think Christians should advocate rights-denying-legislation on the same basis as most other thoughtful westerners, i.e., on the principle of harm to others (as J.S. Mill taught us)? The main point here is that Christians should NOT advocate the denial of rights because they think someone is doing something sinful (e.g., homosexual practice). If sin was the criterion for rights-denial, every Christian (every human) would have their “rights” denied (rights would make no sense at that point). So, any Christian who says we should deny the rights of homosexuals just hasn’t thought carefully about the distinction between legal/political issues and moral issues. I think the bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin, but I reject the claim that Christians must therefore advocate the denial of the rights of homosexuals.

Now, regarding denial of the rights of women, I just disagree that the bible teaches the things you think it teaches about women in church. We have two female teaching pastors in our church and I strongly support their ministry and believe it is God-given. I won’t do any specific interpretation here (no space/time), but suffice to say I reject the simplistic readings that you seem to be operating with, and I don’t think Christians are obligated to take those on board (though I do think Christians owe non-Christians good interpretations of those passages).

You say: “If God commanded his people to execute homosexuals, then on what grounds can you blame the “God hates fags” crowd? You might think that their methods are a little harsh, but can you really disagree with their core point?”

I say: I blame the “God hates fags” crowd for the reason that they have a bad view of Christian ethics, as I have suggested above. Nowhere in the ethic of the NT, or the universal principles of the OT, does the Bible teach Christians to treat homosexuals and women in the ways you are suggesting. So, yes, I really do disagree with their core point (and I really do hold the Scripture to be authoritative). I think your challenge might be a more difficult (though still not insurmountable) one for orthodox Jews who deny the change of ethic brought by Jesus.

Final (bonus?) point: Dan, I commend to you a book called Kingdom Ethics, by Glen Stassen and David Gushee. I think this is an excellent treatment of Christian ethics that would fill out your picture of what a respectable Christian ethic looks like. I think a careful reading of this book would make you a better and fairer critic.