Nobel Laureate: Bible is a ‘Handbook of Bad Morals’

By The Christian Post on October 21st, 2009

imagesbannerscp_150x601Reprinted by permission of the Christian Post

By Ethan Cole
Christian Post Reporter
Tue, Oct. 20 2009 07:10 PM EDT

A Nobel laureate said the Bible is a “handbook of bad morals” and the world would be a better place without the Christian holy book.

Jose Saramago in San Sebastián International Film Festival (Credit: Abbas Yari)

Jose Saramago in San Sebastián International Film Festival (Credit: Abbas Yari)

Jose Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, denounced the Bible at the press conference for his new book, Cain, on Sunday in Portugal. His latest book is the retelling of the Genesis story of Cain and Abel.

During the event, he was quoted as saying, “The Bible is a manual of bad morals (which) has a powerful influence on our culture and even our way of life. Without the Bible, we would be different and probably better people,” according to the news agency Lusa.

The 86-year-old author explained by describing the Bible as “a catalog of cruelty and of what’s worst in human nature,” according to The Associated Press. He went on to say “a cruel, jealous, and unbearable God exists only in our heads.”

His irreverence was not only directed at God, but at religious institutions.

Saramago said he did not think his book would anger the Catholic Church “because Catholics do not read the Bible.”

“It might offend Jews, but that doesn’t really matter to me,” he added.

The Roman Catholic Church in Portugal, where Saramago is from, has called his comments “offensive” and accused the controversial writer of pulling a publicity stunt.

Portugal’s population is about 85 percent Roman Catholic, according to the CIA World Factbook.

The latest row with the Catholic Church is nothing new to Saramago. He caused a similar uproar in 1992 with the release of his book, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. In the book, Saramago writes that Jesus lost his virginity to Mary Magdalene and tried to avoid the crucifixion.

Saramago is an atheist and a member of the Portuguese Communist Party.

Copyright 2009 The Christian Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Categories: News
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  • Considering recent events, what can we learn from the fact that Saramago was awarded a Nobel Prize for his literary accomplishments? To mention that he is a communist and an atheist is only redundant. Although not mentioned in this piece I would hazard a guess that he also hates America and and thinks Bush is a stupid, evil war-monger and caused hurricane Katrina in order to kill black folks, and also thinks Israel is responsible for all the turmoil in the middle-east and that "palestinians" are loving, peaceful people interested only in tending their olive groves and goatherds.
  • brianrutledge
    Well I think there is some truth that the Old Testament God was cruel , no matter what the New Testament says. Same God. This God commanded Saul to kill all of the Amalekites, including all women and infants and Saul killed these innocent infants, children and women. That is amoral and cruel no matter what happens later or how you explain it. We call it genocide
  • soccerphoenix
    I think Richard Dawkins said it best: "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unplesant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."
  • brianrutledge
    It is sort of like the defense of the apostle Paul by Christians. He was a ruthless, bloody murderer that later became a zealot for Christianity. It doesn't change the fact that he was still a sadomasochistic murderer of innocent people. The Christian God might forgive him, but society and particulaly the society of the U.S. would have put him to death for his violation of law and his crimes against humanity, before he could have preached or written one word. Paul would have been one of the greatest mass murderers in all of Americas history.I think if some Christians want the Bible taught in schools, that fact should be emphasized since Paul wrote 2/3 of the New Testament.
  • DCM
    There's very little written here about *why* this guy seems to think what he does, but it seems to be the usual mischaracterization of the justly angry God of the OT as "cruel." Has he even *read* the NT? Assuming so, has he tried at all to understand how the two parts fit together? I doubt it; Bible critics like him inevitably show no sign of having made such an effort.

    I know what *I* would be like without my experience of the God of the Bible. I won't go into details, but let's just say I would *not* be making the world a better place!
  • Nor would I!
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