"Despite feverish searching with Scripture in one hand and cutting-edge technology in the other, evidence backing the Bible remains elusive." It goes on: "No evidence of the events described in the Book of Genesis has ever been found. No city walls have been found at Jericho, from the appropriate era, that could have been toppled by Joshua or otherwise. The stone palace uncovered at the foot of Temple Mount in Jerusalem could attest that King David had been there; or it might belong to another era entirely, depending who you ask."
Visitors to Washington, D.C. will now be able to add the Museum of the Bible to their sightseeing list. The museum, which cost $500 million to build. Its purpose is, “to invite all people to engage with the history, narrative and impact of the Bible.” There are three other similar such institutions:
1. Creation Museum: Located in Kentucky
2. Ark Encounter: Also in Kentucky.
3. Holy Land Experience: An Orlando attraction
The mounting evidence against the Bible means fewer Americans than ever before are trusting scripture as gospel. Only 35 percent of Americans read the holy book at least once a week, while 45 percent seldom or never do, a Pew Research Center report in April found. About 36 percent of Christians said the Bible should not be taken literally, while 40 percent say it is the word of God. In all, only 24 percent of Americans said the holy book was "the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word."
Meanwhile, about half of Americans -- a proportion largely unchanged over the years -- fall in the middle, saying the Bible is the inspired word of God but that not all of it should be taken literally," the poll said. "From the mid-1970s through 1984, close to 40% of Americans considered the Bible the literal word of God, but this has been declining ever since, along with a shrinking percentage of self-identified Christians in the U.S. Meanwhile, the percentage defining the Bible as mere stories has doubled, with much of that change occurring in the past three years."
Thank you for this interesting post, BUT . . .
ReplyDelete1. There is a link to the Haaretz article. As a good materialist and revolutionary socialist/anarchist I wish to destroy capitalism one idea at a time. Your post provides one weapon (Haaretz's article). Now I need to load it (the link) but it means I have to subscribe to the publication. Did you get the details through a sub and, if so, can you copy it and forward?
2. The second part of the post cites the (dastardly) beliefs of the Americans and (thank you) provides the link. It looks interesting and I shall have to return to it. However the post doesn't make it clear where the Haaretz article information ends and the Pew information begins. It would be interesting to know.
Otherwise,thank you again. Destroying the patriarchal hierarchical concepts that underpin capitalism is necessary to crea6ting socialism.
Apologies...the hazard or copying and pasting articles.
ReplyDeleteCan't really help...i don't subscribe to Haaretz. I did once ...even during the Jerusalem Post during the Iraq War...while all the Western media was saying every missile use by Hussein was a Scud, the Israeli press were better at identifying them as Exocets or whatever.