A Reasonable Atheist

Well, I'm on my way to my project to read the whole bible from cover to cover. I'd first like to thank everyone for all the suggestions on what bible to get. After reading all the comments on my blog and over at Hemant's blog http://friendlyatheist.com, I've decided to pick the New Revised Standard Version. However, I will be using the excellent parallel bible online I found at http://bible.cc to cross reference translations when I have questions.

So, last night, my wife and I went to Mardel's Christian bookstore. Why did we go to a Christian bookstore, when we could have went to Barnes and Noble instead? I'm not sure actually, I think my wife thought it would be interesting, or, painful for me, or something. Anyway, once inside Mardel's, we were faced with an entire wall full of bibles. I would say 1/3 of the wall was KJV, and another third was NIV. Where was the NRSV you say? That's the interesting part.. the other third was "Other Bibles" . They had exactly 3, count 'em, 3 copies of the NRSV. I'm confused as to why this bookstore didn't have more copies of this translation, maybe a Christian can post in the comments and explain it. Anyway, I settled on a modestly priced ($12.99) NRSV by Hendrickson Bibles, (in conjunction with Oxford University Press). This copy also includes the Apocrypha which should be interesting.

Anyway, I hope to start reading soon. I'm going to get a notebook so I can take notes as I go. Hopefully it won't be too long until my first post.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were discussing religion, in particular Christianity. We were talking about our experiences in the church and how we became Atheists. We came to the realization that since I grew up in the Methodist church, a relatively liberal denomination, that I actually hadn't read as much of the Bible as my wife had. In all the bible study I had ever been in, the lessons were carefully chosen. So, she challenged me. I needed to read the whole thing. All the way through, cover to cover. So that's what I plan to do. I'm going to be reading the Bible all the way through and posting about it on my blog as I go. I'll be talking about my impressions, and the questions I have as I go. Feel welcome to respond in the comments, atheists and theists a-like are welcome.

Before I start however, I come to an important question. Which version of the Bible to read? There are lots of translations, so it might be difficult to choose. I could go with the most common one, the KJV. I asked an Episcopal friend of mine, and he suggested the New Revised Standard Version, but I'm wary of that, as the NRSV and some other newer translations contain "gender neutral" language, which I feel isn't a very good way to do a proper translation of the text.

So, what Bible should I read? I'd love to hear from Christians and Atheists about which one. I'll try to make a decision soon , because I'm kind of excited (and a little daunted) about starting this project.

So, it was bad enough that Sherri Shepard, new co-host of the view didn't know if the earth was flat or round, but now she's claiming "Brain Fart!" to explain it.

Video here

The other day I opened my mailbox, and there was a card in it with a cute picture of a puppy dog on it. After reading it, I realized it was a postcard from a church. I dismissed it, however, my wife noticed something peculiar on it. It said the following:

Join Us for Worship!
Sunday, September 23 5:00 PM (You Don't Have To Get Up Early To Worship With Us) Meeting At: East End Intermediate School

Wait a sec. East End Intermediate School? That's a public school. My tax dollars pay for that facility.

So I have a few questions. Does this violate separation of church and state? Or is it okay as long as the church pays the school for us of the building? Is it wrong because it could very well look like the school is endorsing the religion of this church?



Full Size Version of the card

A group asked Secretary of State Charlie Daniels on Wednesday for permission to put a statue in the state Capitol to commemorate infant deaths, including abortions.

This already smells like something religious, let's see....

Lace described the statue as a man holding a baby while talking to a woman. The robewearing male figure wears sandals.

Daniels asked Lace, “Is that Jesus ?”

“It’s whoever you want to say it is,” Lace replied.

According to materials Lace handed out, the statue is called the Hope Monument. According to the Web site www.hopemonument.com, the male figure is Jesus.

Uh oh. Looks like it is religious. Do these people think they are being sneaky? Do they not believe in freedom of religion? I suppose not.

Link to article

TRUTH. With a Captial T... and a capital R.. U.. T.. and H.. Well, maybe not, but it is a chance for me to win an iPod.

See the page here.

Truth