A BRAVE MAN

Christopher Hitchens

1949—2011

Religion is part of our cultural and intellectual history. It was our first attempt at literature, at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at healthcare, believing in faith healing, and at philosophy.

550-BCE, King Croesus of Lydia, Anatolia, was the first king to MINT a gold COIN: the STATER.

In Philistia—Palestine, the silver SHEKEL was minted circa 500-BCE.

GENESIS 23

Sarah, mother of Isaac, wife of Abraham, dies in Hebron: age 127.

Abraham buys from Ephron the Hittite the cave and fields at MACHPELAH near MAMREs: for 400 SILVER SHEKELS,

and buries his wife Sarah in this cave.

GENESIS 25

Abraham dies age 175.

His sons Ishmael and Isaac BURY him next to Sarah in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre in Hebron.

MAP of the ACHAEMENID EMPIRE

THE Persian DARIC gold coin

According to the Science of Archaeology,

the IRON AGE of the LEVANT—PALESTINE starts circa 1100-BCE.

The CHALDEANS were a Semitic tribe. They were known as "Magi"—STARGAZERS.

King Nebuchadnezzar II was the last of the Chaldean line. He tore down the Temple in Jerusalem 586-BCE. Some of the people and the king were sent into exile to Babylon. The Persian King Cyrus let them return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.

Without the IDEA of a SOUL

Religion would not exist.

SOULS:

Egyptians believed that souls had the same shape as the original body and that they behaved in the same way. At ABYDOS , a royal cemetery, they celebrated a religious festival called the DEATH and RESURRECTION of OSIRIS, God of the DEAD—THE JUDGE who welcomed SOULS.

The belief of resurrection in the BODY is very Egyptian.

The resurrection theme is not an Orthodox Jewish IDEA.

A RELIGION CANNOT

BECOME A GLOBAL FAITH

WITHOUT BOOKS TO TEACH.

And because the priest has read all the books, he knows everything

there is to

KNOW about GOD.

THE SEPTUAGINT—Greek Bible

THE VULGATE—Latin Bible

ENGLISH BIBLES

The Bible should not be used to settle conflicts over LAND

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