The Bible & me

After many years working with and alongside the [Evangelical] Christian Union at university, I have had many discussions and downright arguments as to why I am not a Conservative Evangelical (please note capital letters). I respect the Bible, but many of the interpretations that seem to come automatically as part of Conservatism/Evangelicalism do not make any sense to me.
Many times, my interpretation of a particular passage is at odds with the 'traditional' interpretation, but to me (& I'm sure many others) makes more sense and indeed seems to be more likely to be true. However, I then am told that my interpretation is wrong. Why? Because it's not what the Bible teaches. Apparently.
An example - Women covering their heads in church.
In the times in which these verses were written, it would have been shameful for the women to go without headcovering. To me, this is not a religious regulation, but a guideline on how to interact with local culture. Going out with their head uncovered marked these women as dressed like prostitutes. That is not a good thing for a Christian woman to do. Now, this is not the case! I do not feel the need to cover my head in church or anywhere else. However, if I attended a church which asked me to do so, then I would because that would be culturally appropriate in that church. My interpretation is that it is ok for a women to not cover her head, but it would not be appropriate for her to go out dressed in clothes that make her an sexual object or a prostitute. That would be demonstrating that she had more freedom in Christ than she really did. She is a daughter of God, and as such should have respect for herself and thus should dress appropriately. Covering her head would actually have the opposite effect - that she is somehow not fully worthy of respect and she is somehow a lesser human being compared to her husband or any man. To me this is simply untrue. She and any women on God's green earth are made in his image and are loved by God as his daughters.

But I have said this before and have been accused of not understanding the passage, twisting it for my own ends, of being a Liberal, of being a feminist (meant in a bad way), or simply of having no respect for the Bible. All of these (except maybe the feminism one), I would dispute.
However, I'm not sure that would achieve much here.

Instead, I would like to direct you to this post on Bible Deism. I'd be very interested to hear the thoughts of anyone who reads this post or Peter/qaya's.

God bless.