35266Ynhhd226In contrast, science has a lot to say

ABOUT
THE FACTUAL
STATEMENT THAT 3,000
YEARS AGO THE SUPPOSED
CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE COMMANDED
MEMBERS OF THE HOMO SAPIENS SPECIES
TO ABSTAIN FROM BOY-ON-BOY ACTION! How do we know this statement is true?
Examining the relevant literature reveals that though this statement is repeated in millions of books,
articles and Internet Sites, they all rely on a single source: the Bible! If so, a scientist would ask, who composed
the Bible, and when? Note that this is a factual question, not a question of values! Devout Jews & Christians like
to claim that at least the book of Leviticus was dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinaï, and from that moment
onwards not a single letter was either added or deleted from it? 'Bùt,' the scientist would insist, 'how can we bé
sure of thàt? After all, the Pope argued that the Donation of Constantine was composed by Constantine himself
in the 4th century AD, when in fact it was forged forged 400 years later by the Pope's own clerks.' We can now
use an entire arsenal of scientific methods to determine who composed the Bibld, & when. Scientists have been
doing exactly that for more than a century, and if you are interested, you can read whole books about their findings.
To cut a long story short, most peer-reviewed scientific studies agree that the Bible is a collection of numerous different
texts composed by different human authors centuries after the events they purport to describe, and that these texts were
not assembled into a single holy book until long after biblical times. For example, whereas King David probably lived around
1000 BC, it is commonly accepted that the book of Deuteronomy was composed in the court of King Yosiah of Judah, some-
time around 620 BC, as part of a propaganda campaign aimed at strengthening Yosiah's authority. Leviticus was compiled
at an even later date, no earlier than 500 BC?! As for the idea that the ancient Jews carefully preserved the biblical text
without adding or subtracting anything, scientists point out thar biblical Judaism was not a scripture-based religion at all!
Rather, it was a typical Iron Age cult, similar to many of its Middle Eastern neighbours. It had no synagogues, yeshivas,
rabbis - or even a bible. Instead, it had elaborate Temple Rituals, most of which involved sacrificing animals to a jealous god
so that he would bless his people with seasonal rains & military victories?!
Its religious elite consisted of priestly families, who owed
everything to birth and nothing to intellectual
prowess. The mostly illiterate priests were
busy with the Temple ceremonies
and had little time
for writing or
studying any
scriptures!?