Iyyobh, in the Jewish Book of Truth - Known to Christians as the Book of Job: I've added a paragraph to the introduction on this page on the theological problems in the story of Job, and 2 sections to this page: (1) God Testing People in The Bible, and (2) God as the Author of Evil: Are Satan and God Interchangeable?
Jesus Did Not Exist: I have added a long introductory paragraph, and added multiple quotes from Bart Ehrman and a bit from Karen Armstrong. This page needs a lot of work - there are several important books and authors on this topic that I ought to be mentioning (for example the dry Richard Carrier and the impassioned Acharya S). The parts on the birth of Jesus and on his death will be revamped too at some point.
The Book of Revelation: Some notes on authorship and symbolism.
The Birth of Jesus and the Christmas Story: Pagan and Unhistorical: I have revamped this page... given it an introduction before the menu, added notes from Prof. Bart Ehrman on historical proofs, and added a few other bits throughout the page.
Incest in the Bible: Adam and Eve and Their Children, and Noah and His Family: I've added a note on Warren Steed Jeffs, the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a spin-off from the Mormons).He got himself on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" on account of the scale of his sex crimes within his congregation, including sex with minors and incest. And I've added some paragraphs on the Parsis (Zoroastrians) in Hong Kong, where religious inhibitions against marrying outside causes severe problems with the 100-strong community. Zoroastrianism and its dogmas influenced Judaism, Chritsianity and Islam.
2014-03-07
Five updates on pages on Christianity
2013-10-04
A few updates to some of my pages on religion
A few of these updates I done a few weeks ago, but I've been busy with University work so I'm only just around to posting this.
Traditional Religions and Abolition of the Slave Trade - I've added a paragraph to section 1. The Early Slave Trade, War and Rejection of Slave Ownership : "Slavery was part of the culture of the entire Mesopotamian area (from which Judaism and Christianity arose) but in Babylon in the era of 1800 BCE, injury to slaves was a punishable offence, although the punishment was only a fine2, slaves were better off than in the surrounding areas. Organized Judaism arose from Babylon, and the God that they described in their holy writings happened to reveal to them laws and guidelines regarding slaves that were eerily similar to those found in the wider Babylonian community. Some use this fact to argue that all the verses regarding slaves are merely cultural artefacts, and not God's word."
And I have also added half a dozen more verses to the text on the Old Testament and New Testament.Islam and the West: Pluralism, Immigration and Danger - Made a few minor updates and added section "4. Violent Fanaticism and Terrorism, Starting With Intolerance" with an example of the way a pro-evolution and pro-women's-choice cleric was forced out of his teaching role in the UK by anti-evolution and anti-women Muslims. The potential scope of what I could put on this page is staggering, so much so that I've chickened out and only made a few minor updates at the moment, due to time constraints.
Institutionalized Religions Have Their Numbers Inflated by National Polls - Added some stats to section "5.1. Hidden Secularisation" on American atheists; 4 in 20 of them still call themselves Christian or Jewish, and only 1/4 of them actually call themselves atheist.
And finally,
Is the Christian God Evil? Evidence from Scripture and Nature - I've added a new section to the bits on the New Testament - "2.3. Jesus and the Crucifixion - A Trick". The whole scheme of the life of Jesus does not add up, and it is very hard to reconcile it with the plans of an all-knowing, good God. The crucifixion makes no sense, except if the God of the Bible is evil. Then the magic tricks are the successful attempts of an evil god to impress us simple mortals.
