The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible.

The Sins of Scripture is an interesting title; most people don't put sins and scripture together in the same title. It jars people.

Whatever diminishes life is evil, and whatever enhances life is good.

I don't want a God that would go around killing people's little girls. Neither do I want a God who would kill his own son.

In my book, The Sins of Scripture, I traced the development of tribal religion, which included ideas like God's killing the Egyptians because they hated the chosen people. Then a God of love finally appears in the Book of Hosea, about the 8th century. A God of justice appears in the Book of Amos in the late 8th century or early 7th century.

If you begin to give people hope that there is a brighter future, there is a new tomorrow, then the people who were yesterday's terrorists become tomorrow's elected officials and they're part of the system.

I don't make that decision [what next book will be] until I've read enough to know that I've got something different to say and I know how to say it.