Service...

Spent the morning keywording photos, while the Romahome had its service and torrential rain bounced off the roof. Back in Godalming for the rest of the day: as good a place as any to get some writing done, especially while the weather is so vile…

Bought a book from a charity shop - The Bible, a Biography, by Karen Armstrong - and read it from cover to cover. OK, maybe I skipped a few bits towards the end. God it was dull. It told me what I already knew, that the Bible was the work of many hands, incorporating texts from many other ‘desert  religions’, later commentries, dodgy translations, tales from oral traditions finally committed to paper… or papyrus… or parchment.

The story was padded out with tales of splits and schisms… as one group of believers took issue with another group over some arcane point of scripture. Every dissenting sect claimed to know the mind of God and to possess a unique understanding of biblical dogma. I suppose it’s not too hard to convince a bunch of religious fanatics that they are the chosen ones.

The punishment for non-belief and apostasy, in the Abrahamic religions, has traditionally been death. Bibical injunctions have been used to justify appalling acts of violence - from the earliest times to the present - and the author lists every one. She’s an ex-nun, and, having finished the book, I’m still not sure where she stands. My next book is a collection of atheist writings, assembled by Christopher Hitchens, which might be more nourishing fare…