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We have a running experiment in the world today on the subject of Bible vs. no Bible.

Some parts of the world operate without it, other parts with it.

I'm not a historian, and am curious as to what one would say on the subject.

Going on what little I know of history, here's what it looks like to me:

Europe and the Middle East have had the "benefit" of the Bible for at least 2,000 years. These areas have had varying degrees of civilization in that time. As I understand it, officially sanctioned slavery existed in Europe until the conspicuous slave-taking and trafficking that the Vikings practiced made it a crime, in the case of Christian slaves. It is still practiced in parts of the Islamic world. Serfdom continued until the Middle Ages, and marriage-slavery of women continued until a century ago in Europe and is still practiced in parts of the Islamic world. Genocide or attempted genocide happened whenever it was religiously or politically called for, such as wiping out various kinds of heretics in the first millennium, and entire swathes of red-headed women (interestingly, red hair is apparently a marker for Neanderthal blood) around the Middle Ages, and much of the population of the so-called New World in the more recent past. Abortion was universally practiced whenever people had access to the technology, for obvious reasons, until the most recent American religious revival came along. As for the Sermon on the Mount, a collection of moral precepts basically calling for love and humility, it has occasionally inspired people (Dietrich Bonnhoefer for example) and groups of people (the Hutterites for example) to be more loving, at least to each other, and to be more humble, at least as regards some areas of personality. I think it is these teachings that Christians must mean when they say that things are better because of the Bible?

The rest of the world had not heard of the Bible until about 1500, I'm pretty sure. These areas also have had varying levels of civilization. Slavery seems to have been pretty common, but it has had more benign forms than found in Christendom/the Islamic world as well as more miserable forms. Buddhism is explicitly anti-slavery, and "the Chinese Emperor Wang Mang, a Buddhist, may have been history’s first powerful abolitionist—he outlawed the slave trade in 9 A.D." (https://www.freetheslaves.net/take-action/faith-in-action-ending-slavery/) I think you have to look at each area and tribe to find out about slavery, it's not a monolithic thing. In the same way, women had varying levels of freedom, from near-equality to levels approaching the (Bible-based) Saudi-Arabian level of oppression. Abortions were universally practiced whenever people had access to the technology, for obvious reasons. Values such as loving everyone also seem to be pretty variable, though I think calling it a primary virtue may actually be limited to Christianity until recently (is this true?). Humility, of course, is a value that any hierarchical culture demands of non-aristocrats.

What seems pretty clear to me is that until the Renaissance and Enlightenment, the lot of most Christians was dreadful, especially of women but also of men. It took humanism to make things tolerable for the majority of people. See https://www.amazon.com/Swerve-How-World-Became-Modern/dp/0393343405/ref=sr_1_1?crid=PVWLX0X7TJ2C&keywords=the+swerve+how+the+world+became+modern&qid=1566105291&s=gateway&sprefix=the+swerve+how+the+w%2Caps%2C231&sr=8-1

Today we outlaw slavery (though it is still present everywhere, especially enslavement of women, see https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/2018/data/maps/#prevalence for example), we mandate certain but not all rights for women, and most of us agree at least in principle that compassion is a good idea but humility should be contingent. Wherever birth control is available, the abortion rate is relatively low. These are Enlightenment values, not Biblical ones.

I'd be interested to hear from somebody who actually knows the subject.

I think it makes sense in so far as it shows how God really is a human construct. As you read through the Bible, it's not God learning how to "be God", rather its the authors learning the popular way to portray God. This is way God is "all things" because the stories are written at different times to appeal to different people. Ergo, God is made up.

There's a book that is written using the concept you're describing. It's pretty funny!

The Story of God: A Biblical Comedy about Love (and Hate) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1634310772/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_MNFMDbPB75ZSG

He must support his claims with evidence. If you make the opposite claim, support yours the same way. He has cheap evangelical tools that are not experts in their field. You have both Christian and non-Christian scholars on yours.

For a good overview, I would recommend Who Wrote The Bible by Richard Elliott Freedman

I can't recommend the book Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne highly enough. It goes over all the overwhelming evidence supporting evolution, and explains it in a very clear way that pretty much anyone can grasp. It also looks at the most common arguments used by creationists, and shows why they are wrong.

It's extremely well written and accessible, and is a good first book on the topic. It does not require a deep understanding of biology.

The audiobook version is also very well done.

Found it!


https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Atheists-non-believers-religion-Botton/dp/B00BW8K978/ref=mp_s_a_1_28?keywords=alain+de+botton&qid=1571749667&sprefix=alain+de+&sr=8-28

Start from the beginning and look at Aristotle.

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Book form.