People I feel sad for

It's not an uncommon sight to get on a NYC subway and see some one reading their dog-eared bible. I always feel pity for these folks--to waste all the energy on inferior literature. Really--I think the Manhattan Yellow Pages yield more meaning, after serious study, than the Old Testament. I've heard some of my quasi-tolerant friends try to argue that the OT is the "how not to" guide that's somehow answered by the "how to" of the New Testament. This sounds like a wild-assed justification to get around a book where fathers regularly give away their daughters to rape in order to save their property. I've never seen a set of writing that offers less moral guidance than the Old Testament. Really--for those of you lost on the subways, trying to make sense of this mottled collection of borrowed myth, try Barry Unsworth's "Sacred Hunger," or Thomas Hardy--or the Phone Book. You'll learn more on one trip on the 1 train downtown than you will in years of trying to find something of value in what you're currently reading.