Last week, I went to the grocery store to do my weekly shopping, but when I returned home I realized that I missed out on getting five boxes of free matzah. That makes me a super bad Jew. It means that I forgot that Passover was coming up and that I missed out on free […]
Religious Lies
The King’s Torah: A Rabbinic Text or a Call to Terror? – Daniel Estrin
The marble-patterned, hardcover book embossed with gold Hebrew letters looks like any other religious commentary you’d find in an Orthodox Judaica bookstore – but reads like a rabbinic instruction manual outlining acceptable scenarios for killing non-Jewish babies, children and adults. The prohibition ‘Thou Shalt Not Murder’ applies only “to a Jew who kills a Jew,” […]
The End of Biblical Studies – Hector Avalos – pdf*
The Contradictory Book of Joshua
Contradictory history on the pages of the Bible The book of Joshua in the Bible presents several internally inconsistent scenarios which describe the entry of Israel into Canaan, and it also conflicts with Judges and other books of the Bible. The example of the books of Joshua and Judges can be used to illustrate that […]
Egypt knew no Pharaohs nor any Israelites – Dr. Ashraf Ezzat*
Many are the stories that were told in the Hebrew Bible, but the one story that is yet to be told is the story of the Hebrew Bible itself. The relationship with gods/god has always been one of man’s oldest preoccupations, and still is till this very day. While it’s fair to assume that Modern […]
Ben Carson, Joseph in Egypt, and the Attack on Rational Thought – Gary Leupp
Joseph in Egypt: A Myth I confess: I don’t believe in the biblical story of Joseph. Quite aside from the fanciful notion that Joseph built the pyramids for grain storage (as alleged by Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson), I don’t believe in the Bible character himself—any more than I believe in Prometheus, Rama or the Yellow […]
Historicity of the Bible, Notes from Thomas L. Thompson – pdf
The Outsider Test for Faith And How to Take It – Chris Hallquist
The Catholic Church’s contemptuous attitude towards its “flock” » What follows is an excerpt from the draft book chapter I posted yesterday In chapter 1, I wrote: “If a child, say one who’d just watched Disney’s Hercules, asked me if the Greek gods are real, I’d say ‘no’ rather than hedge my bets by saying […]
Recovery from Harmful Religion – Marlene Winell, Ph.D.*
Part 1: RTS – It’s Time To Recognize It I’m really struggling and am desperate never to go back to the religion I was raised in, but I no longer want to live in fear or depression. It seems that I am walking through the jungle alone with my machete; no one to share […]