We're on Facebook

Oh peskies! It appears my earlier post (which has been edited and annihilated - happy now, John Stott?) did not correctly indicate how to get to the Facebook page. I admit to a little puzzlement as to how to make that work, but try this link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Church-of-Jesus-Christ-Atheist/128248970561284

Is Christian Atheism going to go viral? I would love to think so, but really I think that we will remain something of an underground movement, always trying to inject a bit of reason and freethought into a juggernaut that continues to accrete more and more nonsense as it goes on.

Be careful out there, people!

Render unto Caesar

"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's."

One of Jesus's statements in support of a strict separation between Church and State. I imagine he would be horrified that the Pope is being accorded a "state" visit to the UK, but then the pope is pretty caeasresque too...

Joseph and his amazing technicolor funboat

From www.thebricktestament.com

The story of Joseph is one of my favourites from the whole bible. It comprises the latter part of the Book of Genesis, and most authorities agree that it was a fairly late addition. Although Kenneth Kitchen (a formidable expert in Egyptology) places the events in the New Kingdom, around 1400BCE, many Egyptologists feel that the case is much more persuasive for placing the main events and characters in a Late Period setting, around 600BCE. There are many details of the story that seem out-of-place in the New Kingdom.

As a novella, it is a real beauty, with (in my opinion) some strong stylistic linkages to Egyptian stories such as Sinuhe (much earlier - Middle Kingdom). It is clearly written in a novel-like form; my feeling is that this was an original Egyptian story that has been adapted for a Hebrew readership. Perhaps "Joseph" was originally a country boy from the North-Western delta, or he could indeed have been an Asiatic from the North-East. Little literary motifs in the story scream "Egypt!", and part of me wonders if somewhere in the desert there may be a jar with a hieratic document containing the original story. Maybe if we found that, we would know who the Pharaoh was (annoyingly, the bible mentions very few Pharaohs by name, making it difficult to contextualise some of the stories).

Any of you have any favourite stories? Incidentally, this is one story where I think an atheist can get just as much enjoyment as a theist. See? We don't *lose* anything - we *gain*! :-)

Be Thou My Vision

Essentially this captures what I'm trying to do here. Atheists can sing this hymn with just as much feeling, meaning and emotion as theists. Do add your favourite hymns to the comments; if you have links to any recordings you like, please share them, and maybe let us know a little about how you might interpret it in a non-theistic way. Or perhaps you just appreciate beautiful music and poetry...