Today the Society of Non-Theists held our annual spring event, Fiction for Fiction. The basic premise is that people can trade in various religious texts for fiction novels. We stick little bookmarks in the book explaining why we’re doing the event, which say the following:
“Religious texts may give some moral guidance, but that does not necessarily mean what they say is true. Fictional novels can contain important morals and insight into human life. You must think critically and ask questions to learn from what you’re reading. We encourage you to come to your own conclusions about what is fact and what is fiction. If you would like to investigate inconsistencies and contradictions specifically in the Bible, Koran, and Book of Mormon, skepticsannotatedbible.com is a great place to start.”
Or, to summarize:
Random student: Are you saying the Bible is fiction?!?!
Us: …Uh, yes?
See? Happy non-scary atheists!
We did have the occasional scowl and a couple people who wanted to debate, which also always happens. One person came up (while I was off eating lunch, unfortunately) apparently trying to say the shroud of Turin was absolute proof of God’s existence. …Yeah, I know. Could you pick anything that has been debunked more than the shroud of Turin?
And in an ultimate event of irony, a guy that has been handing out chick tracts around campus came to pass them out to us. I squealed that I collected them (now up to 107!), so I gave him the totally wrong impression with my eagerness. Even more ironically, the tract was anti-evolution. Eventually he realized we were all atheists, and that I am majoring in evolution, so he tried to debate me. And by try, I mean he said Neanderthals were just arthritic humans and that Satan put fake fossils in the ground because he wants us all to act like monkeys (I wish I was making this up).
Him: The problem is people don’t hear enough facts about evolution. Have you talked to creationists?
Me: Tons, yes.
Him: And did they give you any facts? Not Biblical scripture, but science
Me: Well, they thought they were giving me facts, but no, they didn’t.
When I asked for an example of facts, he told me there were too many to remember (even a single one, apparently) and that I should go watch some Kent Hovind. He seemed impressed when I actually knew who he was. I was more impressed that I didn’t revert to my rage face during the conversation.
A liberal Christian who sometimes hangs out with our group then came up, and got all excited that it would possibly be a Christian debating a Christian, so she jumped in. The discussion turned to Biblical literalism and I had to run to class, so I missed most of their discussion. There was one part I did hear, however:
Christian Gal: Well, God used leprosy as a sign that you’ve done something wrong. I mean, I believe in modern medicine and everything, but I don’t think it can explain everything…
Then I facepalmed and ran off to my psychology class. Really, she’s usually pretty good, so I was just like…wut?
Anyway, overall I would say Fiction for Fiction was a success. A club member said he overheard people talking about it favorably in one of his classes. Always good to generate discussion and not piss people off! At least, not everyone.
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I love this!! You guys are awesome.
Someone also donated another copy of “God is Not Great” too
Well done. I’m glad to see that it went well, and I hope you got lots of Bibles and other books out of circulation!
Great idea! Do Star Trek books count as religious texts?
They do for me!
Great idea. I’ve read quite a number of religious texts from most of the traditions and even though they may contain some moral guidance, good poetry and crazy stories, it is all just fiction. I’ve gotten more out of classic novels and poetry. Keep up the good work.
Hey, I want a copy of the Popul Vuh. Could I send you some fiction in return fo it? :DRe: leprosy. Gah. That argument takes me back to the last essay I wrote on the Crusades, about the order of leper knights. Man, fun times.
Aw.. I was just getting ready to ask what she was going to do with the Popul Vuh. Also, really? There are still people out there that believe Kent Hovind has even a shred of credibility? I’m flabbergasted.
It depends on the book, if its just a novel than no, if its the Star Trek Encyclopedia than yes.
I’ve read Popol Vuh (IIRC, we had to in my 9th grade history class…). It’s very entertaining…
I love reading new mythologies, and that one has been on my list a while.
So many of your events make me wish I had become godless in college! I would love to hold these events in my local area if I could figure out where and how!
I wish we had that here in Melbourne, Australia I think I have 5 around bibles around my place. The last vestiges of a christian high school education.
Hey Melbourne – fun city. Do they still have the gas torches along the Yarra? Maybe when they revitalize the river corridor here in LayFlats they’ll put something like that in.
Yuck.Anonymous because atheism is a religion just like any of the others and you label us as all the same though we are not. Yuck again I say.
My favourite part of the translation I read was that they used the euphemistic phrase “they shall be suckled” to mean “their hearts shall be removed via their armpits and offered up to the gods”…
Wow. As a person who is both Christian AND trying not to be a total asshole, I must point out that the main religious text used by Christians, i.e., the Bible, does not in any way support the idea that God uses leprosy to . . . you know what? Forget it. I shouldn’t even have to say this. No one with two brain cells in her head believes for a minute that God uses leprosy to tell people they’re doing something wrong. That is the weirdest claim that I know of anyone in the 21st century making on behalf of Christianity, and I include the putrescent, corrosive, projectile-launched vomit of Fred Phelps and his flying monkeys in that assessment.I mean . . . leprosy? Really? Leprosy isn’t even associated with any high-risk behaviors. Not even eating a high-cholesterol diet, for fuck’s sake, or driving over the speed limit. I just . . . What the . . . Qkjdgiujckjthsjkjuiwdwdvml, you know?