MikeLigalig.com

Nobel winner slams Bible as 'handbook of bad morals'

Mon Oct 19, 11:14 AM

LISBON (AFP) - A row broke out in Portugal on Monday after a Nobel Prize-winning author denounced the Bible as a "handbook of bad morals".

Speaking at the launch of his new book "Cain", Jose Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, said society would probably be better off without the Bible.

Publicity stunt. Jose Saramago, the world does not know you.

believers of the Bible = "Saramango, you just don't know about the Bible" = sisiw

believers of the Quran/Koran = "Saramango, you better hide, or we'll get you" = wow galit

Kay kinsa bitaw ni si Jose Saramago?

Wa man ko kaila ani. Ug wa ni mapost diri he could have gone to his grave without me knowing him.

What Saramago said is nothing new. Western history is fraught with criticisms of the Holy Book, from the scholarly to the merely silly. Without commenting on his statement's validity (or lack of it), I would say there's no reason for anyone to raise hackles over his comments or to take him to task--certainly not those who are unfamiliar with both his achievements and the Bible. One can only be reminded of the words attributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

By the same token, of course, we are sharing our two cents' worth here.

JS point is obviously lame. but just for the sake of my self-indulgence and making comparison, between Saramago and Rushdie, i would say Saramago knows too well which button is safer to hit, while gaining publicity. Christians , particularly Catholics. i remember someone compares Catholics to an object that any one can spit on, urinate and deride--for who cares about them?

should i need to borrow Muslim sentimentalism to make a point that my faith is not at war with anyone but spread peace and harmony? that's ironic, eh.

but let me say to Saramago: you can walk anywhere. and live. and die in peace. i wouldn't lift a single finger on you, for whatever worth you have is nothing compared to what i believe.

hago-a oy...

José de Sousa Saramago was born on November 16, 1922. he is a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998. He founded the National Front for the Defense of Culture (Lisbon, 1992) with Freitas-Magalhães among others. He currently lives on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, Spain.

This in not to defend Saramago--though I don't have the inclination to excoriate him either--but we have to admit that there is a consistency in his views that would belie the publicity angle. It would be safe to assume that he has thought and written all these years in accordance with his convictions, however misguided they may be according to some orthodoxies. His long writing career would show that he has offered the world other "blasphemies". But his hang-ups with Biblical stories simply reveal how much they have mastered his imagination. One exercising Christian latitude would be led to observe that his rebellion merely exhibits the natural human tendency of a sensitive son reacting to a father perceived as "cruel, jealous and unbearable" (Saramago's description of the Judeo-Christian deity).  Yet it's difficult to determine to whose authority Saramago answers. Needless to say, though, the Catholic Church would not have had reacted as it has if Saramago were a nonentity; that some of us may not have heard of him is obviously not a very realiable measure of his stature.

Quote from: hubag bohol on October 20, 2009, 09:52:55 PM
What Saramago said is nothing new. Western history is fraught with criticisms of the Holy Book, from the scholarly to the merely silly. Without commenting on his statement's validity (or lack of it), I would say there's no reason for anyone to raise hackles over his comments or to take him to task--certainly not those who are unfamiliar with both his achievements and the Bible. One can only be reminded of the words attributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

By the same token, of course, we are sharing our two cents' worth here.

Very well said Bags!

Honestly this is one of my wish list sa Half.com

Quote from: ms da binsi on October 21, 2009, 05:15:44 AM

Very well said Bags!

Honestly this is one of my wish list sa Half.com

Hi, Ms. MDB. Sa tinuod lang, dili na kaajo ko interesado mobasa og mga libro nga naghinubra ka-provocative. Mas ganahan pa ko sa Zorba ni Kazantzakis kaysa ijang Last Temptation. Sa case ni Rushdie,  mas nalingaw pa kos Midnight's Children ug sa The Moor's Last Sigh (wa lang ni naho mahuman og basa, ha ha ha) kaysa Satanic Verses. Kini pud si Saramago, ginindotan kos ijang whimsical nga The Stone Raft. Considering my ever-growing list of unread books, morag di na tingali ko makabasa pa aning ijang Cain. Paki-share na lang unja sa imong impressions. 

I find it quite ironic that Saramago, who is the founder for the National Front for the Defense of Culture in Lisbon, fails to understand that the Holy Bible and its influence in politics, religious cultural arts in the Catholic Church, was pivotal in the safeguarding of European culture from the Dark to the Medieval to the Classical epochs. It is the Holy Bible that was responsible for the increase in literacy rates in Europe in earlier epochs, which later influenced the birth and exponentiation of the Renaissance. Indirectly, one can even attribute the Holy Bible in its teaching within the Church and among private readers, indirectly influenced European Enlightenment, which was a response to the increased literacy rate in Europe--which was facilitated by the Holy Bible and by the religious orders that facilitated in spreading the Good News throughout Europe.

Once Europe was conquored, so would her colonies be conquored--by the power of Faith.

England and her American, Canadian, Indian and African colonies--> will be Christianized
Spain and her Latin American and Philippine colonies --> will be Christianized
etc, etc, etc.

The Bible.
It's rather CULTURAL and RELIGIOUS at the same time.

Saramago, go read history.

For one who is as piquant as Saramago's mouth, his statement deserves to be noticed with the same intensity and conviction to prove otherwise. now, it would come from us. let the unknown mouths, hands and feet, with no books written on whims and imaginations, speak of the mercy and goodness of this God that these cynics and gnostics wouldn't dare to talk. sadly, this world has more reserved praises for vainglories and eccentricities. it is from them i catch a glimpse of the futility of words alone. so i try to learn to live this word from the simple words of people, not from those who pretend they know everything.