No. No.

I could reject Harry Potter's supernatural elements and still get more from the series than I could from the Bible

It's no wonder they overlap. The "divine wisdom" of the religious was simply stolen from, or modeled after, the common sense of common people.
One of the more annoying assertions from the religious is that non-believers get their morals from Christianity, when in actual reality it's the other way around.
Communities don't function because religion imposes values onto people. Religion flourishes in communities with strong social connections, and then takes credit for the prosperity, as it does for each and every single positive achievement of good people.

I value plenty of things in the bible. No murder, no theft, no flaunting your faith, etc.
Not as divine wisdom or authoritarian ethics. It just oh, so coincidentally happens to overlap with my conscience as a social mammal.

Nah, I gave up on using religion as a source of morals. Too much hate, ignorance and corruption. The only reason Christianity seems to have developed ethics is becuase the societies they exist in demand ethical progress.

The loving thy enemy as thyself parts? The do unto others as you would have them do unto you parts? Sure. I can go along with that stuff. The selling your wives and daughters in to slavery parts? The divinely sanctioned genocide parts? Not so much.

The only thing I really took from the bible is "Treat others as you want to be treated." That pretty much says it all. I disregard the rest.

I find bits of it helpful because I already know the Bible and I'm able to use it to help my friends consider higher perspectives since they believe in it, but I would never recommend it to anyone looking for truth. I wouldn't suggest any of my children read it to gain good insights. The problem comes that there are some powerful truths mixed in with the truly bad stuff and people tend to believe it's the infallibe word of God. That's what makes it dangerous because people are justifying things that they could easily understand are wrong. We would be better off if every copy of the Bible was burned.

There are sociological elements in the bible that are of a pragmatic nature. "Judge not, lest ye be judged.", "Do not bear false witness against your neighbor." (lying AND gossiping...if you did not see it yourself, you are "bearing false witness" when you pass it on as fact.

I used to think that the Bible had a positive message but then I really started looking at what was in the Bible and it is mostly evil. People who haven't read the Bible but just listen to what others say about it can be easily fooled.

Religion is a human artifact. One would expect much of what religion teaches to be a reasonable guide to a harmonious society.

Definitely, and fwiw trust that God hates religion even more than we do. Virtually none of the things that Christians even believe are anywhere to be found in the Bible. [abarim-publications.com] is one good source imo

I particularly like the part where it's okay to beat your slave as long as that slave doesn't die, but the part where the greatest of Israel's kings orders a soldier to his death in order to bang his wife is interesting too.

There are so many good morality lessons....

The best principles (obviously my opinion) apply universally and aren't differentiated by whether one is male or female. The 'Ten Commandments' for example, embody some valid moral principles, all of which are instinctual and self-regulating anyway. Commandments are directed at men and as though men are natural human monitors.

I believe that all of our 'social ills' are directly or indirectly rooted in the advent of male domination and exclusivity in leadership about 6,000 years ago. The supernatural elements of Biblical 'teachings' are less damaging than the rules of conduct for males and societies propagated by patriarch's claiming supernatural bases.

I think stories are valuable in and of themselves so I would say yes, we can learn from the Bible’s stories. It’s all in the interpretation of the reader though, not some authority who is dictating to you it’s message.

The bit about beating yout slave was very informative ....

I think there are good proverbs and things, same as most religions, just convincing people to take them at that and leave the rest is tough. And where do you draw your line between love your neighbor and hate you family?

I value all cultural artifacts when understood in the context of the time and place in which they were created.

There are certain values which are universal; the Bible is not the only authority for them. The prohibition on killing people, for instance. There are other values in the Bible which most people reject, and rightly so. Support for slavery and genocide, for instance. You really have to cherry pick which ones you support and which ones you reject.

Certainly! Most, if not all fundamental religious handbooks are also easily described as "handbooks for having a peaceful society". It was the misuse of these teaching for control by leaders and zealots that bastardized the underlying good life lesson therein. Now the mumbo-jumbo parts...that's just pinache and artistic license.

I do value the ethics in parts of the Bible. In some parts, though, the ethics are not good at all. I do not take any part of the Bible on blind faith. I study it, interpret it reasonably, and apply it to my life as I see fit. I am the judge of how I use the Bible to enrich my own life.

Of course, the stories are mostly mythological. Like Aesop's Fables, the stories are not to be believed, but the morals of the stories can give us valuable insights.

Sure, there’s some good stuff in there. Don’t kill, don’t steal, be humble and nice to people. That’s good stuff for the most part.