KEY POINTS:
Bible stories of a virgin birth, resurrecting the dead and parting the Red Sea are a creative misinterpretation of one of the world's oldest and most widely read books, according to a leading member of the clergy.
American Anglican bishop John Shelby Spong is visiting New Zealand next week to promote his book Jesus for the Non Religious, which discusses how Jesus was a mortal human being whose only gift was to possess a great sense of humanity.
He bases his ideas on modern science that disproves many Bible stories, such as Jesus' ascension to heaven - "he would have had to have been travelling at an enormous speed for years just to reach the edge of our galaxy" - and medical knowledge that it is impossible for a woman to become pregnant if she is a virgin.
His theories have attracted huge controversy worldwide, but Mr Spong said while there would always be religious fundamentalists, people were generally disillusioned with religion as it is taught in most churches.
"So much of the hostility of the world seems to be tied up with religion ... [and with people] killing in the name of God," he said.
"And so I think it's time for someone to look at Christianity apart from the religious framework, and that's what I'm trying to do."
Mr Spong, who was trained as a fundamentalist before radically changing his thinking, was raised in the region known as the bible-belt, mostly made up of states that formed the Confederacy in the American Civil War.
He was brought up to believe segregation of blacks and whites was sanctioned by the Bible and was once punished by his father for being polite to an elderly black man.
"I just remember thinking I didn't understand that. If it's right to say 'sir' to elderly people, and this was clearly an elderly man, why was he upset about that?
"Segregation builds really high walls," he said. "I also thought men were superior to women but my daughters fixed that for me.
"I told the Roman Catholic bishop in Newark that Rome wasn't going to get its head straight about women until its priests had daughters. You can't be dealing with these prejudices, like blacks were inferior and homosexuals were either mentally sick or morally depraved, when you know so much more about those things."
Mr Spong said that if it was the Bible telling you those things, then you've just got to deal to that Bible.
"The fact is the Bible was written when the Earth was thought to be the centre of the universe and God sat above the sky and kept record books on your behaviour."
The bishop also attacked the attitudes the church has towards sex.
"I don't know why anybody thinks the Christian church has any expertise of understanding homosexuality, or any other kind of sex as a matter of fact.
"We're the ones that said if you're going to be holy you've got to be an unmarried man, if you're going to be an ideal woman you've got to be a virgin mother and marriage is a compromise with sin."
Mr Spong said he was not sure how New Zealanders were going to receive him on this tour, but was not worried.
Among his friends is Lloyd Geering, who gained infamy in 1967 when he was tried for heresy after questioning key aspects of religion and the Bible.
Mr Spong said there would always be people who would be upset by his and Geering's ideas, but their movement was being overshadowed by a fast-growing secular society, especially in New Zealand.
"The religious stuff gets more and more right wing but the country seems to be more of a secular humanist society. I think that's also true in Australia, it's certainly true in America."
Mr Spong did not spare his criticism when it came to New Zealand's other main religion - rugby.
"I don't believe we would have survived as a human race if we had not been tribal. We were so anxious when we came into self-consciousness a million years ago that we began to form ourselves into security sections of clans, or families or tribes."
But he said that crucial survival skill needed to ward off predators was no longer necessary and the human race had ended up turning on itself - whether it was sporting teams or warfare between countries.
"We don't have any enemies now, human beings have taken care of all our enemies except ourselves, and so we turn on ourselves.
"And religion is one of the very destructive forces. Every religion claims it's got the true faith and that anybody who disagrees with them are infidels.
"And so you have Osama bin Laden killing the infidels in New York and Washington, but if you go back to the 12th century you've got the Christians led by the Vatican killing the infidels in the Middle East [in] the Crusades."
Christians in particular had always needed a victim, Mr Spong said. "We've hated Jews for most of our centuries. We've hated heretics - we've burned them at the stake."
He said Jesus crossed boundaries with race, sex and religion.
"He's always criticising his religion when it dehumanises anybody."
His work had attracted so much controversy because it attacked people's sense of security, he said.
"It took me a long time to realise that, so when you begin to tamper with religion you tamper with people's security systems and it's helpful to recognise that.
- NZPA
