Comments on: Biblical Literalism

By: Dave F

Dave F — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:46:44 +0000

I guess Jesus was the only one who knew about the stepping stones.

By: Nicole Wyatt

Nicole Wyatt — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 23:29:19 +0000

Even ‘literally’ is not always used literally. Incidentally, Orson Scott Card has a short story based on the black sea thesis. Find it here: http://www.hatrack.com/osc/stories/atlantis.shtml

By: pepi

pepi — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:37:16 +0000

Actually, Frances Farmer would most likely not have been institutionalised if she’d only been a Christian visionary instead of an eccentric atheist. She might have even become a saint. She wasn’t lucky.

By: JamesW

JamesW — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:24:09 +0000

Thanks to Jeremy Osner for the Black Sea flood link – better than mine, as I was just going on the old National Geographic article. I used the theory in Armenia as a parable for their history of disasters and comebacks in a toast to “Noah, the first Armenian”, which was well received!

By: Greg Hunter

Greg Hunter — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:35:36 +0000

The Frances Farmer treatment? Lobotomy gets’em home

By: pepi

pepi — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 13:49:21 +0000

I believe there is medical treatment for such beliefs.

By: Greg Hunter

Greg Hunter — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:20:02 +0000

The Bible can be taken absolutely literally, because it is open to interpretation. Look the Hebrew, Greek; KJV translations leave a lot of room for everyone. For instance. Most people believe that Eve ate an apple and brought sin into the world. I believe she had sex with the Devil and her first-born son, Cain is his offspring.

By: jdw

jdw — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 03:32:38 +0000

w. kiernan: … Alright.

By: W. Kiernan

W. Kiernan — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 01:16:25 +0000

jdw sez: I’d like to meet the 4% of people who would say: “Well, yeah, Moses literally parted the Red Sea so the Jews could escape from Egypt. But that Noah’s ark stuff — people who believe in that are nuts.” That would be me. Hi! I disbelieve in the existence of “God,” whichever “God” you choose. I believe Pat Robertson is a lying swine. I disbelieve in the Devil and the afterlife. I disbelieve almost all the miracles reported in both Old and New Testaments. I believe the Book of Revelations is a disgusting load of pure bullshit. However, with all that, I do believe that the Nazarene once walked on water, because, you know, that’s exactly the sort of thing He’d do.

By: Jim Harrison

Jim Harrison — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 00:31:48 +0000

Years ago my father announced to me, “You know that Timothy Leary is literally a bastard!’ When, in perfect innocence, I asked him how he knew Leary’s parents weren’t married, he thought I was being sarcastic.

By: Alex R

Alex R — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 21:10:28 +0000

Given the widespread misuse of the word “literally” as a general-purpose intensifier (e.g. gas prices “have literally gone through the roof”), perhaps the results of this poll don’t at all mean what they seem to mean… Literally… (On a more serious note, I strongly suspect that there are a lot of what Daniel Dennett might call “closeted brights” out there—or at least folks with “bright” tendencies—who might not be willing to fess up to a pollster that they don’t really believe everything they learned in Sunday School.)

By: eudoxis

eudoxis — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 20:34:46 +0000

The polls regarding literalism select for those who adhere modern evangelical fundamentalist denominations that pride themselves on a literal interpretation when, even they, take a great deal of the text allegorically. A better measure of belief would be a poll identifying denominational affiliation. There is no single exegesis that is fully literalist. The poll regarding specific events is likely overcounting those who believe in the events as literally described in the Bible because alternatives are not given and the answers may be somewhat defensive.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 20:32:08 +0000

Another example of why polls are a crude tool, made for specific, simple answers, not complex ones. Deep religious or political beliefs are usually too complex to be captured by polls with accuracy.

By: joe

joe — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 20:30:04 +0000

“_So a large group of respondents appear to be saying that they believe the Bible, but ignore it which seems a bit odd to me – since if I believed every word, I’d be there all the time praying for mercy._” There is no contradiction in believing the Bible and also instinctively realizing that the Sunday Praise Assembly crowd are a bunch of losers it is better to avoid. God will surely understand.

By: Lance Boyle

Lance Boyle — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 20:27:37 +0000

60% of some other clot of survey-takers thought GWBush was doing a bang-up job. Profile those respondents! – More pertinent is the meta-note, that, regardless of the actual percentage of actual people in present-day America who actually believe in the literal truth of the actual words in their particular versions of the Bible, this frivolous subject is being discussed seriously, in a relatively serious forum at a most serious time.