When I was a child I read them as stories just like I did other stories like Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood. They didn't hold any secret truths to me nor were they special to me in any way. I only liked my children's Bible because it had pretty pictures

Stories from the Bible need to be taught but not as life lessons, but rather as literary phenomena that recur in Euro-American intellectual and cultural history.

The Bible is a history book written for the enlightenment of the knowledge elite and the obedience of the masses. Now that the masses have become educated they are no longer so obedient and simply reject the lot as fairy tales, which is their loss because the real history hidden in the books is extremely interesting.

Just what they are... stories. Some have lessons to be learned which usually is just plain common sense.

When I first decided to read the bible Ibwas told not to read front to back and to start with the story of Job- well I ended up reading the bible 3 times total and each time got more and more upset. God seemed like a total asshole while Jesus seemed like a pretty awesome dude- son of god, I think not, but an awesome dude nonetheless.

Ever googled "god is an asshole" some very interesting reads. And yes god seems very much the narcissistic asshole. The bible confirms it

It's hard giving credit to a bunch of bronze-age goat herders who didn't know where the sun went at night.

If it were like Harry Potter, which had good morals and was well-written, sure! But as is, hate, cruelty, and hypocrisy aren't things I would like to see kids learning.

I never took those stories as being true.. I always saw them as being the type of story where you are meant to learn something. Like Noah's ark.. that couldn't have happened.. I mean come on!

Can't vote because I don't agree with any of the choices.

It depends on the stories, what's being taught and who is teacing them.

I voted utter B.S.
If it were so great people wouldn't need to be trying to convince others how great their ridiculous bible based religions are.
If it's going to be taught at all, it should be considered fiction.

Heard it all my life. The final lessons we learned, are not always fitting in today's social climate, put them in the same category as mother goose.

The only thing the bible is good for is kindling. It's not even good fiction.

There are some really disturbing tales of incest and throwing your offspring under the bus. But a few of them did establish a foundation for my sense of right and wrong. I can see how most people would end up fucked up trying to use it as their only compass.

Not even fit enough to be called fiction, made up lies by weak minded idiots for weak minded idiots, mass mind control , waste of time and effort to even open the cover of a bible, the most racist and sexist homophobic book ever, time it was banned.

During the Bronze Age, this was the best information they had on how to live and survive as a society, however we have since found better methods, unfortunately not everyone is ready to advance.

Very little true history in buybull stories. No evidence of Moses, Jews being slaves, and no anthropological, archaeological, or biological proof of Jesus. The four gospels contradict each other and there is no written history of the time that mentions a Jesus.

Teaching stories that rely on magic should not be taught it teaches children to be gullible sheep.

A lot of it is passed on folklore from ancient text, like for instance the Epic of Gilgamesh. Many of the books of the bible weren't completed until after Jesus supposedly died, some several hundred years later.

I've always said that the bible is an instructional manual on how to be good person.

Having read the Bible I find it is no more a predictor of one's fate then normal social experiences. It does give one insight into the cherry picking various Judeo/Christian people do to justify their believes and actions. I have found it handy to fake a little true believer to avoid wasting my time trying explain my lack of interest in imaginary friends. I don't take this day to day living stuff to seriously and I do sleep well at night.