Secular Bible Study

More ideas from Minnesota. Secular Bible Study casts wide net:

As if it’s not unusual enough that Trinity United Methodist Church and the Minnesota Atheists have joined forces to promote a project, wait till you hear what the project is: a Bible study class.

Granted, it’s not your normal one. At least, that’s the hope. Called Secular Bible Study, the program aims to “foster and nurture relationships between folks who would otherwise avoid each other,” said Chester O’Gorman, community outreach director for the northeast Minneapolis church. “Secular Bible Study hopes to attract a variety of people — Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, Christians and even Jews and Muslims.”

The weekly class will focus on the Bible’s historical and cultural context. Organizers have drawn up a set of ground rules designed to keep participants from proselytizing, but that doesn’t mean that they want to discourage disagreement.

What do you think about studying the history and culture of the Bible without reference to Christ, salvation, grace, and other controversial things that the Bible is about? Might this do some good, or is it just reading the Word of God as covered by a veil?