# Why Do Atheists Interpret the Bible Hyper-Literally **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 24, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842 "2010-09-24T02:57:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/81 "2010-09-24T17:55:50Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Oh, and **Superfluous Parentheses** , I explained the meaning of Matthew 5:30 in my first post in the part that you quoted. Very well. _You_ take it as metaphor. If I had to do the same, I don’t know that I would agree with your interpretation. The “hand” part would imply that you abstain from objectionable action. The “eye” part seems to me to imply to abstain from _knowledge_. And I would object to that on principle. > [@](#): > > It’s worth noting that among the many things that Christians know and most atheists seem not to is the meaning of the word “literally”. It means either “presenting the exact meaning without figurative intent” or “produced as an exact copy, as by exact word-for-word translation”, according to my dictionary. Therefore, if someone says that they interpret the Bible literally, that does not mean that they believe it contains no metaphors. When we’re talking about the meaning of the text, of course we’re not talking about “exact copies” - it’s _nonsensical_ to say one believes something “as an exact copy”. It’s about “without figurative intent”. Which DOES imply “no metaphors”. I’ve already acknowledged that by far the majority of believers take the bible less than 100% literally. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/82 "2010-09-24T17:56:39Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [I think that a lot of vocal atheists (not all of them, but a lot) have a lot better grounding in science than they do in classical literature, philosophy and religion, etc. (Admittedly, the same is true of many Christians—and often without the grounding in science.) In my experience, atheists tend to have a better grasp of philosophy and religion than those actually practice that religion. A lot of atheists arrived there after a lot of personal study and questioning, instead of just listening to a priest or nun and accepting whatever he says. Many times I’ve heard that actually reading the bible cover to cover is one of the biggest reasons given for rejecting it. And I’ve found many examples of people who loudly espouse their religion, or at least loudly deride atheism, and yet have little understanding of it. Although it does seem to be true that atheists tend to have a better grounding in science. > [@](#): > > Either they’re blind to the fact that the Bible is an anthology of different works in different genres, or they at least lack the background to tell how the original audience would have understood the various parts (what was intended as history, as parable, as poetry, etc.), and the critical faculties they bring to the text are those they’d bring to a work of science, or modern historical narrative, or something like that. I’m guessing it’s not because atheists do not realize that the bible is a collection of various books. Atheists bring the critical faculties they use on science to bear on the bible because the bible is used in the same way scientific knowledge is used: as a basis to judge & act on reality. Why not regard the bible, and it’s advice, critically? For example, a lot of Christians use Leviticus 18:22 (or Leviticus 20:13) to justify their rejection of homosexuals. So they are taking something written in the bible pretty literally, and making real life choices based on it. And yet, if you look around in Leviticus, you can find an awful lot of passages, like say Leviticus 19:27 that they don’t follow. But yet I see an awful lot of Christians hatin’ on homos and not a lot of Christians looking like ZZ Top. So what’s the difference between the two? Both are given as commandments from the Lord. Both are actionable. And yet, people do one and not the other. Critical examination of both of them indicates that they were guidelines for nomadic goat headers 2000 years ago. The only reason to follow them seems to be ‘cuz god says so’. But if god did in fact say so, why one and not the other? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/83 "2010-09-24T17:57:31Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > > [@shiftless](#): > > > > Didn’t God write the whole thing? If Christians are to be believed the whole book is the actual word of an all powerful, all knowing being, written down for our edification. > > No that is not the Christian position. Perhaps you should learn what you’re talking about before posting incorrect things here. Please tell us what the Official Christian position is on the subject, because I was unaware the a consensus had been reached among the many sects. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/84 "2010-09-24T17:59:12Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > > [@shiftless](#): > > > > Didn’t God write the whole thing? If Christians are to be believed the whole book is the actual word of an all powerful, all knowing being, written down for our edification. > > No that is not the Christian position. Perhaps you should learn what you’re talking about before posting incorrect things here. Or you could have just answered the question. Who wrote it? Or are you going to slice some fine point about how God dictated it but Moses (or whomever) held the quill? Maybe you don’t believe this but plenty of Christians I know do. Once again, Christians conveniently claim to speak for all Christians when it suits them. As soon someone disagrees, those other Christians aren’t true Christians. Yet the OP has no qualms about lumping all non-believers into one slandering mass. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/85 "2010-09-24T18:04:58Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > > > No that is not the Christian position. Perhaps you should learn what you’re talking about before posting incorrect things here. > > Or you could have just answered the question. Who wrote it? Or are you going to slice some fine point about how God dictated it but Moses (or whomever) held the quill? > > Maybe you don’t believe this but plenty of Christians I know do. Once again, Christians conveniently claim to speak for all Christians when it suits them. As soon someone disagrees, those other Christians aren’t true Christians. Yet the OP has no qualms about lumping all non-believers into one slandering mass. As I said in an earlier post, the text itself makes clear it’s not all written by God. For example, Ecclesiasties 1: > [@](#): > > The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. > Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, > vanity of vanities! All is vanity. > What does man gain by all the toil > at which he toils under the sun? > A generation goes, and a generation comes, > but the earth remains forever. The text claims that these are the words of an identified individual person: “the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem”. Maybe _some_ Christians believe that it is written by God personally, I dunno. Any cites? ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/86 "2010-09-24T18:06:14Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > My impression is that atheists actually interpret the Bible hypoliterally. How about harpoliterally, with charades and honking of horns? ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/87 "2010-09-24T18:09:12Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Maybe _some_ Christians believe that it is written by God personally, I dunno. Any cites? Not… exactly… > [@Thessalonians 2:13](#): > > For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. [http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr\_insp.htm](http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_insp.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/88 "2010-09-24T18:11:59Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > All of my Protestant pastors have encouraged me to read the Bible myself, as indeed did the one Catholic priest who I’ve heard speaking on the matter. It is, of course, possible that the clergymen (and women) I’ve spoken with on the matter are an unusual sample who all happen to say the exact opposite of what the majority of the clergy say. However, we’d have to agree that that’s rather improbable. If, as you say, pastors are widely telling their flocks to not read the Bible, then surely many of them are also putting that advice in books, sermons, and so forth that are available online, so proving the point with a link should be easy for you. Obviously relatively few clergymen take the official position nowadays that the laity are forbidden to read the Bible (although historically laymen were discouraged from or forbidden to read the Bible longer than they were allowed to). So the official modern position is that you should read the Bible. But generally it’s more a matter of allowing laymen to read the Bible rather than encouraging it (much less requiring it). The majority of churchgoers who read the Bible will do so in the context of Bible Study groups - a bunch of people reading the Bible under the guidance of somebody who will steer the interpretation. I was raised a Catholic and like most Catholics my contact with the Bible was generally a reading at the Mass, where the priest selected a couple of passages, read them to us, and then gave a sermon on what they meant. None of us were ever told we shouldn’t read the Bible on our own but it certainly was never encouraged. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/89 "2010-09-24T18:13:17Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Maybe _some_ Christians believe that it is written by God personally, I dunno. Any cites? I just did Googled “God wrote the Bible”. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/90 "2010-09-24T18:15:04Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > > [@Malthus](#): > > > > Maybe _some_ Christians believe that it is written by God personally, I dunno. Any cites? > > Not… exactly… > > > [@Thessalonians 2:13](#): > > > > For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. > > [http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr\_insp.htm](http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_insp.htm) Seems pretty clear from the cite that some religious Christians believe that God “inspired” the writing, but no-one (or hardly anyone) actually believes God wrote it. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/91 "2010-09-24T18:40:41Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Seems pretty clear from the cite that some religious Christians believe that God “inspired” the writing, but no-one (or hardly anyone) actually believes God wrote it. I think this goes to the main point that the OP brings up. If we could just pin down a single Christian concept of what role God had in the writing of the bible then maybe most atheists would stop their hyper-literally interpretations, and maybe most Christians would too. I’m getting the impressing that you do not think the Bible was written by God (however you want to interpret that), or even inspired by God. In that case I understand why you might dislike atheists interpreting it so literally since you seem to believe it is a book written by man. How do you feel when Christians do that? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/92 "2010-09-24T18:40:56Z")
Speaking only for myself, I am not overly concerned about word-picking, so long as I am allowed to call out _egregious_ examples of making stuff up and pretending the verse supports it. If the text seems (in _context_) to support the interpretation, and the style of interpretation doesn’t change dramatacally and conveniently all across the board, then I can roll with it. (And example of the latter being you can’t say that the mosaic covenant is invalidated by Jesus and then try and use it to justify a ban of homosexuality or whatever.) Why am I willing to be so lenient with other people’s interpretations of the bible? Mainly because it’s so bad that nobody _can_ use a consistent and rational interpretation and still use it as a holy book. And if people aren’t using it as a holy book (that is, if it doesn’t have factual or moral authority), then I don’t give a crap what people do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/93 "2010-09-24T18:44:29Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Seems pretty clear from the cite that some religious Christians believe that God “inspired” the writing, but no-one (or hardly anyone) actually believes God wrote it. But that’s not really the question - tho I’m sure some Christians DO believe the bible was really “written” by God - the quote [from the NT] does say quite definitely that the bible is “the word of God”. The “Word of God” is quite a powerful idea in Christian theology and arguably not something that can be toyed with or ignored as one likes. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/94 "2010-09-24T18:46:34Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > No that is not the Christian position. Perhaps you should learn what you’re talking about before posting incorrect things here. So once again you attack someone for being ignorant of what your position is rather than asserting it directly. And what do you mean by the “Christian” position? That’s overbroad. This thread is about atheists vs. those who _do_ believe that the Bible was inerrantly authored by God. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/95 "2010-09-24T18:51:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@Malthus](#): > > > > Maybe _some_ Christians believe that it is written by God personally, I dunno. Any cites? > > I just did Googled “God wrote the Bible”. > > Wow. Yeah, not much of a consensus. There are places like this: [http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-literal.html](http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-literal.html) that contend that the bible is to be taken literally. I don’t know about hyper-literally. And then there are all the “biblecode” books and sites that contend God actually put in numerical codes with secret messages for us. Hardly mainstream I know but those folks believe that the bible is actually to be taken as a God’s word letter-for-letter. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/96 "2010-09-24T18:58:20Z")
[quote=“Shodan, post:43, topic:554842”] > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And the Bible is a book written for adults. > > Regards, > Shodan Indeed. When I think “adult”, I often imagine talking snakes, people living inside whales, Omnipotent beings playing games with peoples’ lives, hatred of sex, 1000 year-old men, events that defy physical laws, zombies, and implausible end-of-the-world scenarios. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/97 "2010-09-24T19:00:38Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Indeed. When I think “adult”, I often imagine talking snakes, people living inside whales, Omnipotent beings playing games with peoples’ lives, hatred of sex, 1000 year-old men, events that defy physical laws, zombies, and implausible end-of-the-world scenarios. Sounds like Clive Barker to me. Wouldn’t recommend it to 6 year olds. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/98 "2010-09-24T19:04:15Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > > [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > > > **Define most atheists**. One example is not enough. > > I think Curtis has perfectly good point and there are a lot of atheists whose entire schtick consists of that sort of thing. For example, [this guy](http://www.youtube.com/user/GIIVideo) seems to be the most popular atheist on youtube and his videos get millions of hits. His attacks are mostly, though not entirely, based on grabbing Bible passages out of context and being deliberately obtuse about the message. For instance he points to “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off” as proof that Jesus was insane, whereas no intelligent person has ever had trouble interpreting it correctly as a command to eliminate beliefs, habits, etc… that are leading to harmful behavior. It’s true, of course, that most atheists on _this_ board know better, but in the world at large the point Curtis is making seems quite valid. Uh? You cite one atheist on youtube you don’t like, a larger (but vaguely numbered) groupd of atheists on this board you have no problem with, and decide the world at large embraces the kind of atheism you don’t like? Let’s not hedge, here. It’s akin to saying you dislike Group X even though some of your best friends are members. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/99 "2010-09-24T19:26:56Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > > [@Malthus](#): > > > > Seems pretty clear from the cite that some religious Christians believe that God “inspired” the writing, but no-one (or hardly anyone) actually believes God wrote it. > > I think this goes to the main point that the OP brings up. If we could just pin down a single Christian concept of what role God had in the writing of the bible then maybe most atheists would stop their hyper-literally interpretations, and maybe most Christians would too. > > I’m getting the impressing that you do not think the Bible was written by God (however you want to interpret that), or even inspired by God. In that case I understand why you might dislike atheists interpreting it so literally since you seem to believe it is a book written by man. How do you feel when Christians do that? I personally have no belief in the literal existence of any God or Gods. My interest in the Bible is purely literal, historical, and anthropological. My point is this: that attacking it for having flaws or contradictions misses the mark, since the vast majority of actual believers today and throughout history were not of the opinion it was, literally, written down by God, but rather that its human authors were inspired (no two agree exactly how or to what extent) by the divine. Thus, the presence of errors and contradictions in the text is easily explicable by believers. They will hardly break a metaphorical sweat, in responding that “errors in the text” are the natural result of having human authors, and that it is only where the authors all _agree_ that one detects the presence of the divine inspiration. They would, in short, not be swayed by this argument: > [@](#): > > One flaw, one contradiction should be enough to cast doubt on that assertion. That is why someone trying to cast such doubt would interpret it hyper-literally, because the claim is that it is hyper-literally the word of God. … because they would not accept its premise. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842/100 "2010-09-24T19:33:46Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > > [@Malthus](#): > > > > Seems pretty clear from the cite that some religious Christians believe that God “inspired” the writing, but no-one (or hardly anyone) actually believes God wrote it. > > But that’s not really the question - tho I’m sure some Christians DO believe the bible was really “written” by God - the quote [from the NT] does say quite definitely that the bible is “the word of God”. The “Word of God” is quite a powerful idea in Christian theology and arguably not something that can be toyed with or ignored as one likes. Again, the issue I was arguing with was that it is a valuable critique of the Bible, and of Judeo-Christianity generally, that the text contains errors and contradictions. It doesn’t take a very sophisticated believer to easily dispose of that argument. The Bible may, in Christianity, contain the “Word of God”, but it was not written by infallible God - it was written by humans, under (many believe) divine inspiration. A New Testament example: the Gospels contain _different_ versions of the crucifiction of Jesus, which differ in significant detail. They were written by different individuals. Christians have known about this since forever; it is, obviously, not taken by them as proof that the Gospel-writers were not divinely inspired because they do not all agree. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-atheists-interpret-the-bible-hyper-literally/554842.md?page=6)