Honestly if people stopped believing in it the academic study would shrink but improve so much.

A lot of the field is kind of crap and deserving of skepticism, with too little effort to correct for anchoring and survivorship biases.

But yes, sometimes I can find that discussing the academic study of the Bible is as obtuse with some atheists as with evangelicals.

I don’t take it personally though. It’s not a dead religion and a lot of people have trauma relationships with the subject because of things the live remnants of the traditions do. I was fortunate enough not to be born into it and to have spent most of my childhood not even knowing who the heck ‘Jesus’ was supposed to be. It was a huge advantage personally and a huge advantage in seeing past the bullshit when I got around to reading the material.

Not everyone was so fortunate, so I generally have empathy for those who take that more close minded approach even if I do my best to provide the objective information relevant to the conversation.

Appreciate your comment though!