Feb 6th 2012, 22:56:30
A few other things on the direction this thread has gone (and not at all relevant to Dibs' original query):
1) Even if you're atheist, the study of religious texts can still be very enlightening. To be quite honest, if you want to understand the vast majority of Books written by English or American writers, there are about 3 places the literary allusions comes from: The Bible, Classic Mythology and Shakespeare.
I study Classic Mythology, but it doesn't mean I believe Zeus will smite me if I anger him. I just want to be able to understand the world I'm reading about when I read The Odyssey or the Aeneid or any other Roman or Greek text.
Even if you're an atheist, you can regard the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, or the Bhagavad Gita (or Classical Mythology, for that matter) as compelling fiction that helps illustrate the values of a particular culture.
2) Having said that, I am Catholic and I do believe in God. I also believe the theory of evolution is far closer to the mark than the idea that God created a man and a woman and that a talking snake tricked them into eating a magic apple. Even as a good Christian, why is it hard to see that Jesus taught in parables, which are basically extended metaphors? Why can't the book of Genesis pretty much just be a set of parables to teach life lessons, like: listen to what God says to do, don't kill your brother, and don't fall victim to hubris (as opposed to don't eat magic apples or build a giant tower for the purpose of reaching the heavens, which are far less valuable lessons to most people).