richard_dawkins_-_the_god_delusion

344 THEGODDELUSION
wake up with a bad hangover: 'I had been dreaming that some
bounder was driving spikes through my head - not just ordinary
spikes, as used by Jael the wife of Heber, but red-hot ones.' Bertie
himself was immensely proud of his only scholastic achievement,
the prize he once earned for scripture knowledge.
What is true of comic writing in English is more obviously true
of serious literature. Naseeb Shaheen's tally of more than thirteen
hundred biblical references in Shakespeare's works is widely cited
and very believable. 152 The Bible Literacy Report published in
Fairfax, Virginia (admittedly financed by the infamous Templeton
Foundation) provides many examples, and cites overwhelming
agreement by teachers of English literature that biblical literacy is
essential to full appreciation of their subject. 153 Doubtless the
equivalent is true of French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish and
other great European literatures. And, for speakers of Arabic and
Indian languages, knowledge of the Qur'an or the Bhagavad Gita is
presumably just as essential for full appreciation of their literary
heritage. Finally, to round off the list, you can't appreciate Wagner
(whose music, as has been wittily said, is better than it sounds)
without knowing your way around the Norse gods.
Let me not labour the point. I have probably said enough to convince
at least my older readers that an atheistic world-view provides
no justification for cutting the Bible, and other sacred books, out
of our education. And of course we can retain a sentimental loyalty
to the cultural and literary traditions of, say, Judaism, Anglicanism
or Islam, and even participate in religious rituals such as marriages
and funerals, without buying into the supernatural beliefs that
historically went along with those traditions. We can give up belief
in God while not losing touch with a treasured heritage.