Why I'm Reading the Bible and What I Expect to Find

I've begun to read the Bible, along with a group of colleagues, with scheduled "Bible Study" meetings in which we will meet to discuss whatever dreck, miracle or incongruency we have found in the previous week.

I (and I'm not quite sure if I speak for the entire group) am an atheist. My lack of faith in a god is as powerful as the supposed faith that many claim. I believe in evolution, I do not believe in an afterlife as a event in which some individual essence retains it's individuality and lives on in some physical-law confounding eternity, I think clergy are either maliciously fooling others or ignorantly fooling themselves. I think that the spiritual tendency is an evolutionary left-over from the days in which the world was so inexplicable complex that needed something to keep our heads from exploding. (Serotonin and Spirituality , I don't agree that this needs "contextualization" {near the end of the article}, I would argue it's pretty straightforward) And yet I find it quite neccessary to read this manuscript cover to cover.

This book has been the fundamental (only?) document to contain the essence of so-called "Christianity" (we won't be making it to the Christ portions for some time). A precept that many people think this nation was founded on (although there are convincing arguements against this: here, here). It holds together a variety of schools of thought (many who claim to be seperate and distinct for no discernible reason) that I think are damaging overall to us as a people. The rules of this religion, themselves, may have a positive impact in many areas. The problem often occurs within religious hypocrites: those who "go to church" and yet participate in acts of greed, lust, envy, slot .. . . etc. I strive to understand the full scope of right and wrong as the Bible tells it so I can fully understand and appreciate this hypocrisy I feel I am drowning in.

Conservativism, in 2005, is a force to be reckoned with. The social aspects of conservativism claim to have roots in x-ianity and the bible. I intend to find the broad swipes at homosexuality and compare the perception of a homosexual in the Bible to the perception of a woman. I suspect that the Bible fosters little respect for women (we find this evident in the first few pages with Eve being an accidental villian, and the descendants of Adam rightfully taking numerous wives). To fully understand the bullshit that is neo-conservativism I want to understand their document, and I expect to find that scarcely few proponents have even read it.

Creationism is the foolishness that will not die. The Bible supposedly has some profound, meaningful explanation for how life started. I am midway through genesis and have not found it, in it's place however is one of the driest, most vapid explanations of a phenomenon one could imagine. I knew I would disagree, but I didn't think I would find it so boring. In a time when the truth is under attack, it seems important to know one's enemy.

And, for me, that is the reason to read this. To further understand the ignorance (and no, it's not all the Bible's fault) that plagues mankind, and to be able to actively refute the talking points of true believers who have never taken the time to read the book that is supposedly so important. If you'd like to join in our Bible Study Group, please let me know.