Humanists think that the Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Buddhist sutras, and the Book of Mormon are not the work of supernatural spirits, but of fallible humans.

By Roy Speckhardt, January 20, 2013

While the Religious Right was never fond of Thomas Jefferson, their misplaced disdain for the Founding Father has again come to the surface with the publication of a new “Jefferson Bible.” Earlier this month, Humanist Press published A Jefferson Bible for the Twenty-First Century, a book that includes the famously edited version of the Bible Jefferson created for his own use. His version deliberately omitted all the supernatural parts: the miracles, the resurrection, the virgin birth, etc. The new book not only includes everything Jefferson left in, it also includes a section with examples of what he left out as “dross.” Then it repeats the same exercise for other major scriptures: the Hebrew Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavad-Gita, Buddhist sutras, and even the Book of Mormon.

Not surprisingly, the Christian Right is howling in protest.

Rev. Bradlee Dean, in his recent commentary in Whistleblower entitled “Enemy of God = Enemy of America,” makes the astonishing claim that the Jefferson Bible “is filled with accounts of miracles, raising the dead, healing lepers, multiplying food for thousands, heaven, hell, the resurrection and the Son of God!” Astonishing, because the indisputable fact is that Jefferson’s collection contains no miracles, no raising the dead, no healing of lepers, no multiplying food for thousands, and no resurrection.

To read the rest of this Patheos article from American Humanist Association Executive Director Roy Speckhardt, click here.