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Read other letters about this article
of Jesus stopping a crowd from stoning an adulterous woman in which he uttered the immortal words; "Let ye without sin cast the first stone". The idea being that we're all error prone humans and we can forgive each other our trespasses. The writers of the bible were surely smart enough to realize they couldn't just state the point because no one would listen. But they would listen to an exciting story in which the hero saves a woman in distress from the jaws of death at the last possible second into which they could insert the point. And the whole point of that story is to teach us something about being human that is true. That is why people need their faiths. Yes, there are a lot of beliefs that are ridiculous. I think that's Maher's point. Those aside, both atheists and fundamentalists have got it wrong. This also reminds me of a passage from Douglas C. Adams. In it God was arguing with someone about creation, we asked, "But what about the babelfish?" God said, "I hadn't thought of that." Then Adams wrote; "And God disappeared in a puff of logic." Thereby, he made brilliant fun of both atheists and the devoutly religious.
