Atheists: How many of you have read the Bible?

Question

Not necessarily cover to cover, but maybe the whole New Testament and sizable bits of the Old?

I'm just curious.

I think I've read the entire think except for bits of Leviticus as one time or another.

I'm an atheist now but I read a lot of it while I was a believer. And I know some atheist read just to see what the fuss is about, or for personal study.

Thomas:
It's an interesting read and not really inaccessable if you take it as mostly mythology, with a few letters of instruction tagged onto the end.

cherodman4u:
I don't get you. What 'demeanor' does my question have?
I think you are reading into it something that is not there.

Answer 1

Twice, cover to cover.

- I read the bible for the first time from cover to cover when I was a believer.
- I read the bible again when I turned into agnostic.

Later I decided that entertaining the question wasn't worth it, so I turned into an atheist, plus the term has more "punch", I always had to explain people what an "agnostic" was, nobody asks what an "atheist" is.

Since some of my best friends are believers, I keep hearing / reading parts of the bible quite often. Some people just use the bible for everything, so, it'll keep coming up.

Answer 2

I had a course in the Bible as literature in college, and I do know a bit about it. Just as I don't think someone who has never read anything about evolution can have an intelligent opinion about it, as an atheist I feel I need to have some familiarity with the mythology of the Bible before I decide to reject it. And reject it I do,but based on my own reading and opinion, not anyone else's.
Bombergirl--I don't think it's the atheists who carry on like they know everything. Intelligent people realize how much there is that they don't know, and some vague answer about a god just doesn't satisfy us. If you're happy with that, fine--but please don't delude yourself into believing that's any kind of an answer.

Answer 3

ya ive read it. Mostly when i was younger ... the colorful stories and miracles. I tried later but found it mostly boring and old-fashioned. how can people from 2000 years ago know about the complex things we havde today, with more sophisticated issues around relationships (divorce, gay marriage), politics (nuclear warfare, terrorism), the internet (online relationships, instant acess to anything).

the bible is a great old book that tells you about ancient times, like the iliad or the odyssey... but surely not a book by a supernatural being. what nonsense. And way too many people use it today to justify anything. people should be better educated and learn to make decisions themselves rather than relying on 2000yo fables. Shakespeare said even the devil can cite scripture for his purposes.

Answer 4

Tried to read some of it and couldn't. I couldn't help but think while reading that it's a waste of time and on how people can believe so blindly in this stuff.

Ever heard of 'Misquoting Jesus'? It was a book that was written by a methodist. Someone who believed that every word in the bible is the word of god. After he studied the bible, history and leaned the language the bible was originally in, he is now an athiest.

Answer 5

Dear, I am a believer, but I think you're trying to come off as a bit "high handed" in all this. No individual will be saved because you challenged his/her Biblical literacy/exposure. It might be better to just pray for their "enlightenment" in the privacy of your own room no matter how much "persecution" you've felt placed against your convictions or hard-won(?) faith. If you feel threatened, it's time for some serious prayer and NOT for an all-out attack on the perceived "opposition." It is better just to give a witness of God's work in your life than to pontificate about the inner strength of the Holy Bible. Please rethink the 'demeanor' of this question and reconsider its issuance... perhaps you may want to reword it or recind it.

Answer 6

Probably more atheists have read the bible than christians.Christians are not exactly the most dedicated religious people .Now dont getting upset there are totally millions of seriously dedicated christians who read the bible daily i know this. But to be an atheist you have to understand what you dont believe in to rule it out. Its like how can i say i dont like the color blue if i have never seen it .If they havent read he bible then are they true atheists.

Answer 7

No, why would I want to read something I think is fake. I once began to read it and could barely understand it. I can't believe that it is the word of god but written by man. Give me a book that is written by god and I will be a believer forever so until then, I'm an atheist.

Answer 8

I am currently reading it. I used to be a hardcore Atheist, but it wasn't the Bible that got me to believe. It was the Aerospace Engineering studies and a fellow engineer that got me thinking. He asked me, "After all you have learned about the universe, how can you NOT believe in God."

Get an engineering degree, then think about that question. You'll be converted.

Answer 9

One predominant feature of Christians is intellectual laziness. It's been my experience that atheists are MUCH more knowledgeale about the bible, the history of christianity (and the history of religion in general) than do most Christians... and most Christian preachers, for that matter. Why? Because once upon a time, they WERE believers... up until the time they learned to think. Once they learned to think, they applied their learned skills of critical thought to the religious beliefs that had been implanted in them like some insidious brain-virus. And, guess what? Christian religious belief cannot withstand the glaring light of reason, rationality and critical thought.

Science, reason, critical thought have long been regarded as the enemies of religion. Considering that those are the tools of highly intelligent people, it should come as no surprise to you that intelligence (or lack of it) has some connection to religious belief. In fact, there are about 20 studies, conducted over a period of 80 years, that reveal a statistically significant NEGATIVE correlation between intelligence and religiosity. In plainer language, they found that the more intelligent a person is, the LESS likely he is to be religious.

If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Intelligence tests mainly provide an indication of reasoning ability and problem solving ability... critical thought. These are the very qualities that see through religion, and recognize it for what it is; i.e., religion cannot survive the glaring light of reason and critical thought. This was well understood by important figures in religious history. This is why the early church destroyed all the writings that were in conflict with dogma, such as Greek philosophical, medical and mathematical knowledge... which led directly to the Dark Ages.

Just to illustrate the point, let's see what Martin Luther, the 'father' of protestantism, had to say about it:

"Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God." ~ Martin Luther

"Reason is the Devil's greatest whore; by nature and manner of being she is a noxious whore; she is a prostitute, the Devil's appointed whore; whore eaten by scab and leprosy who ought to be trodden under foot and destroyed, she and her wisdom ... Throw dung in her face to make her ugly. She is and she ought to be drowned in baptism... She would deserve, the wretch, to be banished to the filthiest place in the house, to the closets." ~ Martin Luther

"Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but -- more frequently than not -- struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God." ~ Martin Luther

"There is on earth among all dangers no more dangerous thing than a richly endowed and adroit reason... Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed." ~ Martin Luther

"Reason should be destroyed in all Christians." ~ Martin Luther

So, you see... religion is nothing more than a business... in fact, it is the world's longest running and most successful Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) scam. But, it only works on those who are dumb enough to fall for it. However, there are a lot more people who DON'T know how to think than there are people who DO know how to think. That is why there are a lot more religious people in the USA than there are 'tree-thinkers'... including Atheists.

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"Selling eternal life is an unbeatable business, with no customers ever asking for their money back after the goods are not delivered." ~ Victor J. Stenger


"Businesses may come and go, but religion will last forever, for in no other endeavor does the consumer blame himself for product failure."  ~ Harvard Lamphoon, "Doon" (paraphrase)

Answer 10

There is the famous story about Randolph Churchill sitting down to read the bible and then exclaiming 'God is a ****!'

Having read various parts of the bible myself, I'd have thought reading the bible is more likely to turn christians into athiests than athiests into christians!

Incidentally, the 'skeptics bible' is simply 'the bible'.