Why are YOU an Atheist?

[Vincenzo Vinny G.]

I'd say that 1000 years from now people might be saying the same of Harry Potter, but then I remember that we have more than just an oral tradition.

Back when the Bible was compiled, there was a bare minimum of ability to confirm or deny the stories being written down. We have several respected Greek and Roman authors who also wrote about things that were "intended" as truth for the time but were later discovered to be fiction.

Having "real" elements in a book does not make it any more "a history" once it's found out to be inaccurate. Having "real" elements is often used to add legitimacy to any ol' claim someone feels like espousing. That includes oral traditions that people would love to pass on to continue social and religious control.

Dan Brown might have "intended" his book to be fiction, but many people like yourself would say "Well, gee, there's a lot of truth included in it - I better take this book with some seriousness!"

I'd love for my people's martyr complex to be further enhanced by the Exodus being true. There were some "real" elements in the story. Too bad there's no reason to believe the story itself and the narrative it proposes is real, thanks to the findings and diligent work of people who give a fuck about history and science.

This is a thoughtful post. Kudos.

Pinch your nose and look at the Biblical book of 1 Chronicles. The first nine chapters look like this. I find it hard to call that fiction.

But in historical literary criticism, the point you made about historians faking things is serious. It's nice that you are aware. The explanations for this are very interesting.

But properly speaking, the Bible isn't one book. Nobody judges the Bible historically or from a position of literary criticism as one book. This is just Christians and Jews and religious ideologues (including atheists) who speak from within literary criticism of the Bible as if it is one book, thanks to the Council of Nicaea.

Properly speaking, the Bible is a collection of many books, some fiction some non-fiction. Others combining the two.

One thing it does not justify is the claim that "the Bible is fiction". Any more than "What thesummerqueen is saying is fiction, because parts of what he's saying is bullshit even though his claims have nuggets of fact in them".