9.11.2020

Putting Christians to the Test: How Many Really Believe Their Bibles?

I don't post many videos here. I am familiar with YouTube and find it helpful for some things, but don't have much interest in watching atheist-oriented videos on YouTube. This wasn't always the case, but it has been the case for several years. When a reader sent me this clip from the Chaser back in 2009 with a glowing recommendation, I figured I better watch it. It turns out the reader was right. The clip was way too good not to share, and so I promptly wrote a post sharing it.

What did I find so appealing about it? Even though it is intended to be funny, it raises an important question which I think all "bible-believing" Christians should be asked as often as possible:

If you insist that your bible is the inerrant word of your god, why do you feel free to ignore or reinterpret so much of what it says?
If the thing is "holy," shouldn't it be assumed that the being that wrote it meant it to say what is says? And if we do assume that, then why would so many Christians claim to believe it is "holy" while disregarding so much of it. And to be clear, when I say "disregarding," I am not referring to the fact that Christians are human and make mistakes like all other humans. The problem here is not that they fail to live up to their "holy" book; the problem is that they willfully ignore so much of what it says.

Clearly, it is a good thing that they do ignore so much of what it says. Otherwise, you and I probably wouldn't still be alive. My point here is merely that we atheists have noticed how many Christians behave as if they do not believe there is anything remotely "holy" about this book. This makes many of us wonder whether they believe much of what they claim to believe. Perhaps what they really believe in is belief.

This is a revised and expanded version of a post that originally appeared on Atheist Revolution in 2009.