Books.

                            

In the Koran the Jews are called People of the Book.

But Muslims could just as easily be called People of the Book.

In fact we are all People of the Book be it scripture or philosophy, sutra or manifesto, ideology or idolatry, even fiction.....

But the problem with books is that although they may contain fragments of truth they also contain errors.

And these errors result in conflict and violence, even bloodshed and war.

Assumptions of infallibility are obsolete.

We must read our books with discrimination.

For example any suggestion of Divine violence, punishment, terror, or torture should be questioned.

Any unlikely claims or statements should be put to the test.

At first we doubt that words have been put into the mouths of prophets, even into the mouth of God.

But evidence from modern scholarship would suggest that this is exactly what has happened.

Traditions arise from commentaries on the scriptures and are enforced as if they were the words of scripture itself.

So read with discrimination.

Ask yourself: "Why has the author written in this way?"

And you may be closer to the truth.
 

Photo Credit: Melinda Stuart Flickr via Compfight cc