LONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters Life!) - If pious Muslims follow the Koran, might Christians and Jews benefit from a closer read of their scriptures too? Can Biblical verses help make them better people, better parents, or even get along better with their in-laws?
People interested by such questions who haven't got much beyond the Adam and Eve story can join a man reading the Bible at slate.com, an online daily magazine.
In "Blogging the Bible," a vaguely religious man plods gamely through scripture, asking down-to-earth or occasionally irreverent questions, and getting thousands of emails in response.
"Any parent knows you have to follow through on your threats, or your children will take advantage of you," notes its author David Plotz, as he wonders why God let Adam and Eve off despite warning that "as soon as you eat of (the fruit of the tree of knowledge), you shall die."
"You can call this 'original sin', but maybe it's just lax parenting."
Plotz is Jewish, and calls himself a lax but well-educated ignoramus. And he finds so much sex, rape, incest, murder and gore in the 'Good Book' that parts of it remind him of 'Desperate Housewives' or 'The Godfather'.
He came up with the project on a rare visit to the synagogue, when he picked up the Torah during a tedious ceremony and chanced upon a rape scene.
"I want to find out what happens when an ignorant person actually reads the book on which his religion is based," he writes. "I think I'm in the same position as many other lazy but faithful people (Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus)."
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