Why I think atheists should not reject all religious text.

[abaris]

Do you read Harry potter for wisdom and morality teachings?

I daresay, Harry Potter offers more in those departments than the bible does.

[robvalue]

I would quite happily lend a hand when deciding which parts of the bible to keep, which to remove and which to rewrite. Would be better for all of us, since then at least it would be a fairly moral book being worshipped.

Sadly, I would want to remove almost all of it though. But we can replace it with other, better stuff.

[abaris]

I would quite happily lend a hand when deciding which parts of the bible to keep, which to remove and which to rewrite. Would be better for all of us, since then at least it would be a fairly moral book being worshipped.

But not much of it left.

[robvalue]

Ah you beat me to my edit

We could change it to stories that don't involve wiping out all life in a city for no particular reason.

[Aoi Magi]

I would quite happily lend a hand when deciding which parts of the bible to keep, which to remove and which to rewrite. Would be better for all of us, since then at least it would be a fairly moral book being worshipped.

Sadly, I would want to remove almost all of it though. But we can replace it with other, better stuff.

I wonder if you will be able to save a single character from the original book if you actually could try to make it more moral.

[robvalue]

That's a good question. Probably not in their current state. Even the so called heroes are monsters.

How did they ever turn Noah's flood into a children's story that makes out God is good or something? That is some masterful PR.

[Nope]

I am still not certain what the OP means by the word, reject.

Many atheists in the United States were religious at one time and are probably at least superficially aware of what their religion's holy texts say. It seems to me that atheists are more aware of what the bible says then Christians.

[abaris]

It seems to me that atheists are more aware of what the bible says then Christians.

At least - as opposed to Christians - they're usually coming to the same conclusions.

[downbeatplumb]

I wonder if anyone has looked into the possible problem of the repel-effect in which a person who doesn't want to follow false teachings accidentally becomes contrary to many good teachings that are contained within the religious text of a religion. I mainly speak of Christianity because it is what I have most knowledge of but from what I've heard of some other religions I think this may be relevant to them also. Wisdom such as treating others the way you want to be treated are pretty obvious but there are many subtle bits of wisdom that are often forgotten if not frequently reviewed. Not only are these neglected by someone who discards the entire religious text but that person may also be subconsciously driven to rebel against almost everything in the book in order to distance themselves as far as they can from it. I can some up the problem with a quote my mother often said; "don't throw out the baby with the bath water".

There are some reasonable bits of the bible but they are more by accident than design.
Lets look at the ten commandments for example.

The first five are either about praising god or honouring your parents whatever that means.

Only at six do we get to one I can get behind-Thou shalt not kill

Then thou shalt not commit adultery-Why this and not thou shalt not rape or abuse children or keep slaves.

Then the only good one is thou shalt not steal.

All the others are thought crimes and so not really crimes.

So out of the ten main bits claimed to be the central laws of christainity only two stand up to scrutiny.

Anyone after five seconds thought could come up with a better list.

Better to burn the bible and start again that follow that garbage.
Then the only other one I get behind

[robvalue]

Yeah, except that isn't even the real 10 commandments. The real ones don't cover murder and stealing. So they are worse than common sense.

The famous 10 were only part of the first draft, the final 10 put on the tablets and into the ark were different. How many Christians know that? Or care?

I have mentioned it before and it didn't seem to rattle anyone. Just an atheist making stuff up, no need to open the bible and check hey.

You know, if I had a book I thought God wrote, I'd take it a bit more seriously.