• Welcome to the new Internet Infidels Discussion Board, formerly Talk Freethought.

Should atheists read the Bible for cultural literacy?

Yep. The Bible is tribal. Nothing is dumber than the preacherly line about the Bible speaking with one moral voice, having one streamlined moral code, as opposed to being utterly self-contradictory, jerry-rigged, and full of squinky cubby-holes of weirdness (i.e. Genesis 6:4, which I doubt many preachers have ever preached.)
 
ideologyhunter said:
Yep. The Bible is tribal. Nothing is dumber than the preacherly line about the Bible speaking with one moral voice, having one streamlined moral code, as opposed to being utterly self-contradictory, jerry-rigged, and full of squinky cubby-holes of weirdness (i.e. Genesis 6:4, which I doubt many preachers have ever preached.)
Click to expand...

I seem to recall an advertising campaign by Guiness, tied into the Hurling in Ireland that was very close to being a direct rip-off of the King James authorised translation of Genesis 6:4.
 
You have made good points.

Though I am familiar with the rough outline of the Bible (the creation of the world, the flood, Joseph and his brothers moving to Egypt, Exodus, the conquest of Canaan, the exile in Babylonia, the return to Israel, Jesus and his life, the missionary activities of Paul), I think I should try to read the thing from cover to cover. But I have to admit that it will occupy a place not very high on my priority list at this point.
 
skepticalbip said:
Today, one of the leading Democratic candidates for U.S. presidential nomination is an avowed socialist who has praised Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. I think that a reading of Karl Marx would give someone some insight into his mindset. It can give them an understanding that socialism is not just "free stuff".
Click to expand...

Bernie Sanders is in practice a social democrat rather than a socialist. It is a bit of a mystery why he calls himself a socialist, and in the US of all places.

I generally like Sanders, so it is a very big minus to read that he has praised authoritarian leaders like Castro and Chavez. I will have to look into that.
 
Tammuz said:
Bernie Sanders is in practice a social democrat rather than a socialist. It is a bit of a mystery why he calls himself a socialist, and in the US of all places.

I generally like Sanders, so it is a very big minus to read that he has praised authoritarian leaders like Castro and Chavez. I will have to look into that.
Click to expand...
More concerning to me is that Sanders remained an avid supporter of Daniel Ortega even after the U.N. Civil Rights Council had condemned Ortega.
 
Last edited:
Keith&Co. said:
I dunno from philosophy, but from a literacy POV, yes. And i'd replace 'study' with 'Jesys H. CHRIST some familiarity with!'
Many of my wife's students cannot follow the assigned reading because the teacher or the author makes a reference to a biblical figure they know fuck-all about.
She might as well be saying, 'this is a retelling of [/i]bibblief forgorbaliester's epistle to the frbrbrbgystanders.'

They don't know who Moses is, or Noah, or what a disciple is, or much of anything if it wasn't on TV in the last four days.
So, yeah, i'd support teaching at least a Cliff Notes version of all the big religious lit examples.
Click to expand...
Wow. Are these grade school students or college students?
 
Torin said:
Keith&Co. said:
I dunno from philosophy, but from a literacy POV, yes. And i'd replace 'study' with 'Jesys H. CHRIST some familiarity with!'
Many of my wife's students cannot follow the assigned reading because the teacher or the author makes a reference to a biblical figure they know fuck-all about.
She might as well be saying, 'this is a retelling of [/i]bibblief forgorbaliester's epistle to the frbrbrbgystanders.'

They don't know who Moses is, or Noah, or what a disciple is, or much of anything if it wasn't on TV in the last four days.
So, yeah, i'd support teaching at least a Cliff Notes version of all the big religious lit examples.
Click to expand...
Wow. Are these grade school students or college students?
Click to expand...
11th grade.
 
Keith&Co. said:
Torin said:
Keith&Co. said:
I dunno from philosophy, but from a literacy POV, yes. And i'd replace 'study' with 'Jesys H. CHRIST some familiarity with!'
Many of my wife's students cannot follow the assigned reading because the teacher or the author makes a reference to a biblical figure they know fuck-all about.
She might as well be saying, 'this is a retelling of [/i]bibblief forgorbaliester's epistle to the frbrbrbgystanders.'

They don't know who Moses is, or Noah, or what a disciple is, or much of anything if it wasn't on TV in the last four days.
So, yeah, i'd support teaching at least a Cliff Notes version of all the big religious lit examples.
Click to expand...
Wow. Are these grade school students or college students?
Click to expand...
11th grade.
Click to expand...
Ah, okay, that makes more sense. 11th grade is about when I started reading adult books and thinking about philosophy and religion.

Personally I attended a Christian middle school, so I would have known about Moses etc. at that age, but it's not that surprising to me that 11th graders who weren't brought up religious might be ignorant of the Bible.
 
Tammuz said:
skepticalbip said:
Today, one of the leading Democratic candidates for U.S. presidential nomination is an avowed socialist who has praised Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. I think that a reading of Karl Marx would give someone some insight into his mindset. It can give them an understanding that socialism is not just "free stuff".
Click to expand...

Bernie Sanders is in practice a social democrat rather than a socialist. It is a bit of a mystery why he calls himself a socialist, and in the US of all places.
Click to expand...

Democratic Socialists of America is an organization that has existed for decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Socialists_of_America

Sanders has been a long time member.
 
Tammuz said:
You have made good points.

Though I am familiar with the rough outline of the Bible (the creation of the world, the flood, Joseph and his brothers moving to Egypt, Exodus, the conquest of Canaan, the exile in Babylonia, the return to Israel, Jesus and his life, the missionary activities of Paul), I think I should try to read the thing from cover to cover. But I have to admit that it will occupy a place not very high on my priority list at this point.
Click to expand...

The epistles of Paul are probably more important in some ways, as these letters contain ideas that are the basis of Christianity. They are somewhat convoluted and hard to read, but ideas such as predestination, the concept of the elect, and grace, are and have been important foundations of Christian theology. There is for example, no original sin to be found in Genesis. That idea is from Paul and forms a basic dogma in most of the Christian sects of today. Paul does from time to time directly draw from the OT for his ideas, but not from tales of the OT, but from the various prophets. From the OT, he draws on the tale of Jacob and Esau.

Romans 9:13
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Romans 9, God the great potter who creates some persons as vessels of honor, and some as vessels of dishonor.

Odd stuff that paints God as not the loving, merciful God most people want to believe in. Many Christians know little about any of this as it is hard to read, Paul was not the clearest of writers, and not a very systematic theologian.
 
Think it should be called Paulism instead o Christianity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom