The Bible this; the Bible that; 'tis the word of the Almighty. We all be following its every word... blah, blah, blah
Many biblical scholars lament the fact that the Bible is the most misunderstood, abused, and appropriated text by numerous different religious communities, each one claiming to provide its right interpretation, while ironically supporting their own belief system. Fact is, however, that this so-called book is a collection of diverse and conflicting 2,000 to 3,000 year old texts, and written by over 60+ authors to address specific concerns and needs of their historical contexts, etc.
I have found, and many of you too I imagine, that most religious people merely do lip service to the Bible, to these 2,000 to 3,000 year old texts --- claiming that their belief system is totally supported by these texts and its god(s). I would argue that that is just not the case. And my goal as a scholar is to reveal this.
Anyway, I have recently picked up me shovel and spade and, naively, am attempting to combat biblical ignorance. How so, ye ask? By trying to create a discussion of the texts themselves, in their own historical and literary contexts, etc., irregardless of the reader's belief or lack there of -- an objective and scientific study of the Bible. This scientific approach to the Bible will yield the following conclusions: 1) the Bible is a collection of conflicting sources; 2) biblical scribes were not recording history (that's not to say there is no history in these texts); 3) these texts are most certainly the product of elite scribes advocating and/or legitimating beliefs, geopolitical worldviews, cultic institutions, etc., and thus are not the word of (a) God...
These are the conclusions that the Bible itself leads us to when we study it objectively and in these texts’ own historical and literary contexts and worldviews, not our own. I have started this project at http://contradictionsinthebible.com and would like to know if this focus on the texts and the texts themselves, on their own terms, can create a meaningful, and educational, dialogue between theists and atheists. Check the site out, and by all means leave a comment, critique, challenge, etc. I am sincere about creating a dialogue about the texts, not our beliefs which is often the focus of modern debates albeit clothed behind the rhetoric of "the Bible says."