Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to ACK!! Our local school is planning a Bible course...

This atheist has no problem with this.
ER — (archived)

The Bible is a major, if not THE major, source for the culture of Western Civilization, It is also a damned good read, terrific literature, and comprises several millennia of poetry, history, philosophy and folklore. Its influence has been enormous and no man can consider himself educated unless he is familiar with it. It also has a complex back-story, where the book has been molded by the editing, translation and canonical selection processes. You need to know this while you are reading it: the Bible is a living and changing document, and even today where all the (many different )versions of the text are fixed, the interpretation and the criticism is constantly evolving.

Neither is the study of a religious document necessarily an endorsement of a religious viewpoint. We study and appreciate Homer without accepting the pantheon of Mt. Olympus.

My only concern is that a legitimate study of the Bible as literature and history will only attract religious fundamentalists eager to inflict their dogma on children at public expense, and that the educational program will be hijacked by the "Love God or he will burn you" school of rural North American Protestantism. Perhaps the way around this would be to teach separate courses in the Old and New Testaments, along with the Koran. These could then be taught by qualified scholars who were respectively Muslim, Jewish, and Christian. Thoroughly non-denominational, or even agnostic teachers would be even better. Be honest with yourself, would you want to study the Odyssey and the Illiad under the supervision of a professor who worshipped Zeus?

I've read the Bible several times, cover to cover, and I feel that not being intimidated or coerced by its theological message has helped me appreciate it for the truly remarkable human document it really is.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (65 posts)