No Better Day to Start Reading the Bible than Christmas

Although the title says it all, I think I should explain the goal of this blog, since it is my first post. There are a lot of people out there who are devout Christians and a lot of people out there who aren't (myself included: I'm an atheist). But among those people, how many have actually read the Bible? Like, the whole thing? Like, cover to cover? My guess is not many. One day I was reading a book by evolutionary biologist and delightful scamp Richard Dawkins and he kept bringing up these bits of biblical fare that I just couldn't wrap my mind around. Genocide? Gang rape? In the Bible? Aka the Good Book? And I wondered: What does this thing actually say?

So, friends, I made it my mission to read the Bible. I'm just going read it. I'm not trying to belittle Christian folk for believing in it or boost up my Atheist ilk (we can have a capital letter, too - can't we?). I'm just going to try to plow through it as best I can and report on what it says. And if it so happens that something is funny then well, that's not my fault, is it? Should any Christians come across this blog and get all fired up, please, don't shoot me down on my daily visit to the abortion clinic (I believe in preventative health care, thank you very much). I'm just the messenger.

Today is Christmas - fabulous! No better day to start. I'm at my parents' house and surely it is equipped with one or two bibles. Plus, this is a good opportunity to avoid after-dinner conversation that will surely revolve around who got the best deal on a minivan. My hope is that later tonight I can report on the first few pages of the Bible. Let's face it - the pace of this project will probably be slow. I expect this to be a snooze-worthy read. Painful at best. But I'm going to read as much as I can every day until I'm done and have read the entire goddamn thing.