- cross-posted to:
- atheism@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- atheism@lemmy.world
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I’m reading the Bible now (on 1 Samuel,) and yeah, unless you’re already a believer, there’s nothing in there that will make you believe. I found Leviticus fascinating as a look into an ancient religious society, but when it describes in detail how the fat around the intestines and kidneys should be burned in the various types of animal sacrifices, of which Deuteronomy demands thousands per year, it’s clear that this is very foreign and very old.
Problem is that believers are taught to ignore the uncomfortable bits: “Jesus fulfilled the Old Law so we don’t have to do that.” Ok. But why before Jesus did God care about the order in which a sheep’s organs were burned? Why did he find the aroma of burning fat pleasing? Believers won’t answer that, they’ll handwave it as something necessary in old Jewish society but that no longer applies.
Even if you ignore all that, though, the whole thing reads like a giant Skywalker saga. Every tribe and group of people traces their lineage back to someone in Genesis. Every town and site has an origin story: “And then Bob farted on the hill, so they named that hill Smeltit, with means scented wind.” Enemies cower in fear because they hear how awesome the Israelite’s god is and how much better he is than their gods. People freely give out blessings and curses (both of which work), and roll dice as a form of divination, and believers still insist the blessings work today while sweeping the rest under the rug.
It’s obviously all myth meant to explain the world in which the ancient Israelites lived, but you’re only going to see that if you’re not already blindly believing that God orchestrated all of it.
All of that, but also “These poorly translated parts of the old testament which let me hate others can stay, though.”
Something I find interesting about other religions in the world is that most of them commit to the whole thing, or at least a lot of it, even when it’s inconvenient. Islam has so many things happening all the time, a lot of which involves fasting or not eating certain things, or praying at annoying times in specific ways. Then there’s Christianity, a religion where the most you really have to do is have an annoying bumper sticker and go to church where someone tells you to hate other people but that you can ignore all the bothersome stuff like no tattoos, no mixing fabrics, or any of that other stuff.
It’s a joke religion for lazy people who want excuses.
Discussing and reading the Bible as a teenager nowadays will end well.
Republicans lack the self reflection necessary to have regret.
“Yeah, like what is this ‘love thy neighbor’ crap?? What does that even mean?”
The best way to make an atheist is to force them to read the Bible.
The problem is this line of thinking only works on educated individuals never underestimate the effect of this of cutting education and making people easier to control.
TLDR:
Debating Christianity in class will likely create more non-believers
As many an ex-evangelical can tell you, direct exposure to what the Bible actually says is often the first step to walking away from Christian fundamentalism altogether.
Can’t believe I had to open a clickbait link just to skim through an article.
Thanks for your service 🫡
Yeah. They make bibles for good folks stuck being forced to teach it.
It’s pretty good at making non-believers.
Holy shit that is awesome. If i wasnt so lazy, it might be fun to make a church that focuses on just the rediculous shit in the bible. Really get up in everyone’s face about the weird bullshit in there.
Also, I’m sure teachers will have their jobs in jeopardy (and knowing the wingers, probably getting death threats too) the minute some little Eichmann in one of their classes feel that their beliefs are being mocked or are under attack and takes to the 'net to whine about it, or has their parents do the whining for them…
That’s where the teacher uses the skeptics guide to the king James Bible not as a way to profess but as a way to facilitate conversation.
The teacher doesn’t have to challenge anything. The skeptics Bible just lays the references to other parts of the Bible out bare.
Ask the class “how many sons did God have? What does the Bible tell us. Talk with your neighbor about what you think based on what the Bible says”
The Bible has several answers to this. So, they arguements come from the students understanding of scripture, not the teacher teaching it.
Source: catholic school in a blue state.
Well, it has the word skeptic right in there. The type of xtians that want to be able to inflict xtian madrassas on everyone have done a lot to make the word skeptic a bad thing. (I remember one rather strident xtian asking me for evidence of something I told him and I sent him the link to the relevant part of the SAB site and his response: “of course, it’s from a skeptic. I’m not bothering with that site!”)
Also - I had no idea they had printed copies, and I’ve been telling people to use that site for years.
TIL. Sure enough, the link to Amazon for the printed copy is in the bottom right, and it never even occurred to me that there might be a printed copy of this.
They’ll keep forcing it
They’re stupid, and hateful
They need their fairytale to justify their hatred of all the things they fear
