False Bible

The Times
October 05, 2005
 
Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible [Excerpts]
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
 
THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.
 
The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that they should not expect "total accuracy" from the Bible.
 
"We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision," they say in "The Gift of Scripture."
 
The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious Right, in particular in the US.
 
In their foreword to the teaching document, the two most senior Catholics of the land, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, and Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St Andrew's and Edinburgh, explain its context.
 
They say people today are searching for what is worthwhile, what has real value, what can be trusted and what is really true (Gledhill, The [London] Times Online, October 5, 2005).