The bestselling and award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates (pictured above) came under attack on X for posting that the Bible "is a work of fiction".
Oates, who is an Atheist, was accused of religious bigotry. More than likely, the person of faith* who responded with the bigotry charge against her doesn't know the meaning of the word bigotry. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines bigotry as: "the fact of having and expressing strong, unreasonable beliefs and disliking other people who have different beliefs or a different way of life."
Looking at Oates' claim that the Bible is a work of fiction, we realize she is factually correct and that her belief is NOT unreasonable. In fact, it IS unreasonable to believe the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible are not fiction.
When we objectively look at the Hebrew Bible and its foolish claims, we cannot help but realize it is fiction. For just one example out of many, the claim at Numbers 22:27-30 of a talking donkey does not at all withstand the test of our innate God-given reason. Those verses read:
And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.
Our innate God-given reason is also assaulted by the Christian New Testament. Again, for just one example out of many, Matthew 27:50-53 claims that when Jesus died on a cross on a Friday afternoon, dead people in cemeteries around Jerusalem came back to life and hung out at their graves until Sunday morning when Jesus also allegedly came back to life, at which time the zombies went into Jerusalem and "appeared unto many". There is no way we can make this unadulterated nonsense align with our gift from The Supreme Intelligence/God of innate reason. Thomas Paine did an outstanding job of showing the foolishness of this Bible claim when he wrote in The Age of Reason:
It is an easy thing to tell a lie, but it is difficult to support the lie after it is told. The writer of the book of Matthew should have told us who the saints were that came to life again, and went into the city, and what became of them afterward, and who it was that saw them - for he is not hardy enough to say he saw them himself; whether they came out naked, and all in natural buff, he-saints and she-saints; or whether they came full dressed, and where they got their dresses; whether they went to their former habitations, and reclaimed their wives, their husbands, and their property, and how they were received; whether they entered ejectments for the recovery of their possessions, or brought actions of crim. con. against the rival interlopers; whether they remained on earth, and followed their former occupation of preaching or working; or whether they died again, or went back to their graves alive, and buried themselves.
(Here is the World Union of Deists' page about this ludicrous Bible zombie story.)
This case of Joyce Carol Oates being falsely labeled a bigot by religious/superstitious people makes it very clear how dangerous it is to attack freedom of speech with hate speech laws, etc. Instead of being carried away with emotion, we should focus on facts. We should embrace this principle expressed by the Deist Thomas Jefferson:
We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.
Regarding free speech, we have this important advice from the Deist George Washington:
...reason is of no use to us if the freedom of Speech may be taken away -- and, dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.
We need to always make sure facts take precedence over emotions. This is essential if we truly want to get closer to truth and make true progress.
*Most rank-and-file members of the religious right admire America's Founders, not realizing the key Founders were not Christians, they were Deists (they believed in God based on reason and nature and rejected irrational beliefs such as Christianity and the other "revealed" religions). This quote from Thomas Jefferson should be taken seriously by people of faith: "...man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such person, gullibility which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck."
