>The only people who have any business claiming to speak
>authoritatively about the Bible are Biblical scholars and scholars
>of ancient history, i.e., people who can actually read the text in
>the languages in which it was written and know something about the
>societies from which it emerged. Other people should just shut up.
Are you kidding? If that's the case then 99.9% of the people who believe in and profess religious nonsense should shut the fuck up.