March Biblical Studies Carnival is Up!

And I must say it’s brilliant!  Go check out Darrell Pursiful’s round-up of March Madness (and it has been quite mad).

Conspiracy Theorists, Legitimate Scholarship, and Lead Tablets

(Updates at the bottom) The Biblioblog-o-sphere is run amok with talk over the lead tablets recently publicized by sensational media.  (There is also a Wiki page here, though it has not been updated to include today’s new updates, particularly the note from Margaret Barker about her misquotes by the Media) Unfortunately the reports so far [...]

Forger Brings Phony Doctor’s Note to Court

In other news, water still wet. SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — A California woman facing nearly five years in prison for forging drug prescriptions showed up for sentencing with a phony doctor’s note seeking a delay in the proceedings. Michelle Elaine Astumian was free on $45,000 bail and pleaded no contest in January to felony [...]

Richard Carrier: Is Obama a War Criminal?

Richard Carrier sets the facts straight for those of you who are under the false impression that Obama has done something illegal.  In fact, this false claim can fall under the same claims that we hear all the time without any shred of reason or verisimilitude.  Claims like ‘Obama is a practicing muslim’ or ‘Obama is [...]

“Courtyard of the Gentiles” Initiative from Vatican Opens Dialogue With Atheists

Good.  Though I am a firm believer that such nuanced labels like ‘atheist’ should go away, it’s an unexpected and hopefully fruitful turn for everyone involved.  I suppose the Vatican could learn to use a little more doubt, and I’m sure that certain atheist organizations could learn something from the Vatican.  (Queue the dozens of [...]

“In God We Trust”…But Which God?

There is an interesting article in the Huffington Post about a legislation the House is attempting to pass through: The agenda for the House of Representatives contains a bill, recently reported out of the Judiciary Committee, that asks our elected officials to reaffirm “In God We Trust” as our national motto. News reports indicate the [...]

Wife of God: Was Asherah Edited Out of the Bible?

This is old hat as far as scholars go, but I’m glad it is getting wider distribution.  TIME posted the follow article (snippet version): Some scholars say early versions of the Bible featured Asherah, a powerful fertility goddess who may have been God’s wife. Research by Francesca Stavrakopoulou, a senior lecturer in the department of [...]

Fox News: Liars, Inc.

And Fox News once again is caught lying: A CNN correspondent has angrily denied a Fox News report that he and other journalists were used by the Libyan government as human shields against an attack on Moammar Gadhafi’s compound. Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin reported Monday that the British military had to call off a mission [...]

Complete ‘Press Release’ of the ‘Messianic Sealed Books’

(via) This coincides with the continuing discussion on this blog here and here.  I now have to accept that, if the provenance is correct and the books are indeed not forgeries, and if they can be dated to the period in which the press release claims, these are probably early Jewish-Christian in origin.  However the [...]

Philip Davies on the ‘Newly Discovered’ Messianic Plates

Philip did respond to my inquiry earlier this morning with a similar statement, but I shall repost Jim’s since he appears to have permission from Philip (I didn’t ask and feel it irrelevant now to do so). This is precisely what I had expected of his response, however. It is in line with what the [...]