[lbo-talk] M. Parenti joins the New Atheists?

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Wed Mar 24 14:19:49 PDT 2010


Doug: 'I could wax Derridean and say that all texts are multiplicities, but the average bible reader - no, about 95% of bible readers - treat the thing as a unitary document, the fucking word of God, the ultimate author.'

No so in the Church of England, where the liberals who take it as a metaphorical text, the Devil as an idea, not real, nor is hell and so on. Over time, of course, the CofE fades, as their children lose interest, and what is left of the observing few is the hard cases like the wee Free and African Evangelists.

Chris: '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.'

Yep, well, it was to get rid of that kind of cliquey obscurantist rubbish that we torched all the monasteries over here ...and a good thing too. The best bible is Wycliff's - it is easier to work out what lies you are being told when you can understand the sermon.



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