A Sceptical View of the King James Bible

The following is a copy of the press release I have sent out to publicise our June meeting, adding a link and omitting contact details:

PRESS RELEASE

A Sceptical View of the King James Bible.

The Hastings Humanists meet at 6:30 pm on Thursday 9 June in the Notley Room, White Rock Hotel. Entry fee for non-members is £2.50.

This talk is to mark the 400th anniversary of publication of the English translation of the Bible, authorised by King James the First. Well known writers, including Richard Dawkins, have praised the quality of the English used, although many readers now find it difficult to understand.

Perhaps it should be replaced by a modern alternative such as "The Good Book" compiled by the Humanist philosopher A. C. Grayling.

The speaker, Ken Humphreys, author of "Jesus Never Existed" will discuss how the KJV Bible affects our perception of Jesus, and whether its elevated literature obscures the historical realities.

There will be time for a question and answer session following the talk.

A PDF poster for this meeting is now available to download. I have also attempted to revive our newsletter in a new form, as a web page. Both are available HERE.

The Pullman Bandwagon Rolls

I have to admit that I am not a fan of Philip Pullman's fiction, mainly because of its derivative nature based on christian symbolism, and will not be buying his new fable "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ". However, I've been going the rounds of the reviews, by the christian illuminati, for whom he is their kind of cuddly atheist, which make interesting and varied reading:

Rowan Williams, Guardian

Richard Holloway, Observer

Alan Wilson (Bishop of Buckingham) Blog

Bryan Appleyard, Times

George Pitcher, Telegraph

My own preferred take on the Jesus story is that it is a myth refined from many previous god-man myths based ultimately on sun worship and the renewal of the seasons, and there is little evidence that anyone called Jesus actually lived. All of the more sensible humanist teachings attributed to Jesus are not original but derive from earlier sources. The christ-the-messiah religion was developed by Paul of Tarsus and institutionalised in the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine.