Atheist Creates 'Secular Bible'

AC Grayling used work of philosophers to create a guidebook
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 12, 2011 2:43 PM CDT
Atheist Creates 'Secular Bible'
AC Grayling's The Good Book is an attempt to create a kind of Bible for atheists.    (Publisher)

What would the Bible look like without all that God stuff in it? That's the question AC Grayling attempted to answer with his newly published The Good Book: A Humanist Bible. Instead of looking to prophets and apostles, Grayling compiled the wisdom of great philosophers and writers, reports CNN. “Humanist ethics didn’t claim to be derived from a deity," he says. "(They) tended to start from a sympathetic understanding of human nature and accept that there’s a responsibility that each individual has to work out the values they live by.”

Divided into chapters and verses and featuring two columns on each page, the 600-page Good Book looks a lot like the Bible. It even starts with a garden scene—though in this case, it's Newton and his apple tree, not Eden. And the book ends with a secular version of the 10 Commandments: "Love well, seek the good in all things, harm no others, think for yourself, take responsibility, respect nature, do your utmost, be informed, be kind, be courageous: at least, sincerely try." The intention, he says, was not to create something that's "part of a quarrel," explaining the book is for everyone—even those who already have a Bible on their shelves. (Also: Another new kind of Bible has been published...)

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