Biblical illiteracy

[ThomM]

Sorry - but YOUR claim is wrong - and I was correct - IF YOU ACTUALLY read the study - which you could have found yourself rather than asking for a reference.

See burden of proof. If you make the claim its up to you to support it, not up to them to disprove it. Its usually christians who have to be told that.

Only Mormons and White Evangelical Xtians knew more about the bible than atheists and agnostics

However - those two group Do not represent the majority of Xtians -
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chr...f_members)
Catholics are the majority of Xtians - and then come white mainline Xtians -and black and Hispanic Xtians - all of which the Atheists and Agnostics handily outscored

So - in fact Atheist DO know more about the bible than most xtians

Aw jeez, how picky do you want to get?!

I keep being told that Atheism is not a religion but rather the lack of one, in which case you'd have to include those who believe "nothing in particular". In which case the average for christians (in General) and A-theists changes back the other way. (6.0 to 5.2)

Or, of you count anyone who does not believe in god as an atheist, and those who self Identify as specific TYPES of atheist, then we get to what is probably the most accurate answer, some Christians know more than some atheists... and some atheists know more than some christians.

Actually, its quite interesting to note that they had separate answers for atheist as opposed to people who believe in nothing in particular. Wonder why that was. I thought believing in "nothing in particular" religion wise was the very dictionary definition of an atheist.

Or is perhaps an atheist different to an Atheist

1 - It was YOUR claim that I was wrong - so it was YOUR burden of proof to cover your statement - THE actual study show that By far the Majority of Xtians sect members do not score as high as atheist in their knowledge of the bible - that is NOT being picky when the only Xtians who score higher than atheists are a VERY small minority.

As far as you attempting to change the categories = people who are atheists DO not accept the exitence of gods. THat is specific

People who believe in nothing in particular - may even believe in a creator - but not a religion. Since they are NOT atheists - and atheist would identify themselves as such - it is not surprising that they have a variety of beliefs or non-beliefs.

If I were to include theists other than xtians in the results of all theists - you would complain - so the categories stand as they are.

2 - Once you accept that the bible is NOT the inerrant word of an all knowing god (And it clearly is NOT that) - you now have to accept that the bible does not self - prove itself. If there is ONE error - it now is no more an absolute authority as any other religious MYTH book. And that means that the individual claims of the bible have to rest upon the independent proof outside of the bible. THere is Virtually NONE for most of the bible - and there is a lot against the claims of the bible.

So - now let us look at the story.

A - THe story of creation is obviously MYTH and LEGEND - and may as well be classified as nonsense. So is the story of Adam and EVE - the great flood - the passover - Moses - and lots of others.

However - if YOU look at the old testament - there are CLEAR prophecies of the Messiah - and the christ myth fails to fulfill all but a few minor ones. THere is NO reason for an all knowing god to change his mind - he supposedly had ALL the information already - and KNEW what would happen. To say otherwise admits that the god is not all knowing.

AS far as the story of "being saved" by the christ - because of original sin - the bible contradicts that claim. In Isiah - and elsewhere - the bible says that a man is not responsible for the sins of his father - and the father is not responsible for the sins of the son. SO - only Eve (and possibly adam - but 1 Timothy 2 - says otherwise) - needs to be saved.

So = Yes there are things in the bible that are morally good - but if you really look at them - they are certainly NOT original to the bible -
THe so called "Golden Rule" existed LONG before the time of the christ - was written in works of Plato - Aristotle - and lots of others long before that time. Stealing was against the law in most nations long before the supposed time of the christ as well (And the ten commandments - the only ones Named that way in the bible - are not the ones we learned in school)

It also seems incongruous to think that an all knowing god - knowing both the past - the present - and the future - would follow this line of story - without providing LASTING proof of any of it as well. Why is there NOT a single document that we have - that can be dated to the supposed time of the christ - that even mentions his name when we have results of Turtle races in Rome - from the Same period - know as the Golden Age of Rome?

IF there are some people who WILL NOT DIE before the christ returns - who are those people who are still alive from that time?

IF religion has been such a good thing - then why is their no proof that the people of any particular religion are more moral or ethical than others - or of non-believers. Why are they no protested from natural disasters more than others - or diseases more than others? Why is it that when using statistically significant samples - there is NO meaningful effect of prayer that has a significant effect - and it makes no difference who or what you pray to? (Studies of 30 people in a world of billions are worthless)


Getting back to bible literacy - why read the bible? - if we NOW know it is largely myth and legend - or UNPROVEN. IT is not a good read - it is impossible to follow in spots - it clearly contradicts itself in hundreds of places - and it is not proven to have any benefit as well.