Letters to the Editor, January 9, 2004

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I salute you. Your article about the Bisharat family home in Jerusalem was quite moving, and, so importantly, written in a manner to attract attention of American readers who generally are unaware of the " ethnic cleansing" that allowed the establishment of the Jewish state. I read it at the aljazeerah.info website, but was pleased to note that it had also appeared in Haaretz. What a shame it is that America's millions of fundamentalist Christians have, with the rarest exception, absolutely no interest in considering the fate of Palestinian Christians!

A popular Israeli musician is appealing for better treatment of Palestinians at West Bank and Gaza Strip checkpoints.

“Twenty years ago I served, just like you, as a combat soldier,” singer-songwriter Yuval Banai writes in a pamphlet being distributed at checkpoints by the human-rights group B’Tselem. “Attention to the needs of the civilian population is part of your mission,” it says, adding, “Your actions today will stay with you for years to come.” B’Tselem officials said the initiative follows mounting Palestinian complaints of harassment by soldiers at checkpoints.

Ghulam Muhammed , of Mumbai , India , wrote a posting concerning The French decision concerning ‘ religious garb ‘.

I would simply ask one question . If the situation were reversed in An Arab nation , would Christians be permitted to publicly wear Crosses … or outer-wear with writing saying “ What Would Jesus Do “?

Certainly one would have to say that Christians would constitute a ‘ Minority ‘ in Arab nations .

Editor: There are about ten million Christian Arabs. They wear Crosses and practice their religion with full freedom, particularly in Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, where majority of them live.

The short answer is the Holy Spirit. This is the answer the Bible gives, and it is also a confessional answer for Christians. The more involved answer is that various men (and perhaps a woman or two) recorded what God had said to them. The Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament begins by declaring “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days He has spoken to us by a Son…” (Heb 1:1-2a). The Son here, through whom God has spoken most clearly, is the life of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ (Greek for lord) or Messiah (Aramaic and Hebrew term for someone anointed to do a task). So to repeat the first point God has spoken thorough prophets directly, and indirectly, through scribes, psalmists, and others who were under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The more involved answer is how were the works created when God spoke through these many people to produce the Bible? From a human point of view what did the original version look like? In fact was the original version also the final version or did the books develop through the centuries until they reached a final form? What exactly was the process from the speaking of God in various and sundry ways of old or even in the life of Jesus that led step-by-step to the page of the Bible that someone is reading if they were to have a Bible open in front of them? The first thing to note is that the Christian Bible is a library of at least 66 “books.” The number of 66 books is the number for Protestants; however, for Roman Catholics and many Orthodox Christians, besides the 66 books they share with Protestants, there are the additional books of the Apocrypha. For Jews there are only the 39 books in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is called the Hebrew Scriptures by Jews or some times as the TaNaK. The TaNaK is an acronym that stands for Torah (Books of Moses), N’vi’im (Prophets,) and K’tu’vim (Writings). The Bible is therefore, a library of 39, or 66 or more books. So, to ask “Who wrote the Bible?” is to ask who wrote the “library?” Scholars call discussions of the authorship of the books of the scripture “introduction.” In other words the “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “how” and “why” of the writing of the various books of the Bible is “introduction” to the scripture. Consequently they refer to the “introduction” to Genesis, or the “introduction” the Psalms or to the “introduction” of some other particular book. Whole books of a technical and serious quality have frequently been produced by scholars in the last two hundred years on biblical induction and associated problems. The works produced by biblical scholars on biblical introduction, that is, the subject of the writing of the various books of the Bible and related topics are enormous. I suppose that if all these books were gathered into a single place they would surely form a small mountain range! But, there is more. The acceptance of certain books as scripture and therefore as normative in the life of the Church (or Synagogue for Jews and the Hebrew scriptures) is also a matter of the influence of the Holy Spirit. This is called the development of the canon. The word canon is from the Greek for a measuring stick. If something is canonical then, it is a particular book that measures up to divine standards. If it is non-canonical it is less than scripture. In the series that follows I shall deal with the various books of the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha. Then, I shall cover some of the many works that were rejected but which because of books like the Da Vinci Code have attracted renewed attention. I shall try to keep this vast subject simple, but informative. Questions, comments, or criticism are welcome. However, basically I am responding to the question Who Wrote the Bible, from many things learned at various times. It is therefore very likely that I shall a mistake of memory at sometime. In addition mistakes due to recent advances in scholarship which I have missed can be expected somewhere along the line too. The main goal is to answer the question for the general reader in a helpful and informative way.Editorial Note: This is the first part of an article about the subject. It'll be published with a second part as an opinion article at Al-Jazeerah.

There is a large body of rationalist literature available to answer your question, none of which is taught in schools or promoted as common knowledge. Here is a couple of free-thought classics from Joseph McCabe (1867-1955), a former Franciscan monk. A major scholar and prolific author, he was a considerable contributor to the “The Cambridge Medieval History” and a founding member of Britain's Rationalist Press Association.

“The Story Of Religious Controversy”, by Joseph McCabe. Chapter VII - The Forgery Of The Old Testament. Chapter XII - Did Jesus Ever Live?

If you want a understanding of religious myth-making from the European perspective then read “The Greek Myths”, by Robert Graves (bookstore only).

I read your article (Peter Preston's) and I think it's very funny and quite true but in defense of Tom Ridge and his buddy Bush when an event like 9/11 happens it becomes a P.R. nightmere with magazines like TIME writing articles acusing the government of being soft on terror. Like when TIME accused the FBI of knowing that the planes where going to hit the towers and not doing anything about it while the truth is that like the Kennedy assasination they may have had a hunch but they didn't think it would turn out the way it did. When this happened in the beginning of President Bush's campaign he knew his choices were take it and look like a chump or crack down to the point where no one could say you were light on terror. First impressions are allwayse important and while Bush and his department may have gone over the edge he ended up making more freinds by looking like misled but strong willed leader with good intentions rather than a a cowa! rdlly wuss who double checks his work. After 9/11 accusations were flying everywhere and Bush really didn't have much of a choice over what to do