In the Beginning.

The above is, of course, the beginning of the New English Bible, first published in 1970; translated directly from the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts. And a soul-less translation I find it to be.

The following is the same text from the more poetic King James version with which I grew up, first published in the early 1600s:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
"And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

Not that I think a lot of James the sixth and first, he was responsible for many of the witchcraft trials that took place in this area.

If challenged about my religion, my response is that I am a devout atheist; it is not an attempt to ridicule or belittle other people or their faiths, but I object strongly as being classed as being an agnostic with no religious views. It is also a statement about those fundamentalists who take their beliefs to ludicrous lengths; as I understand it, the Saudi Arabian government recently executed 47 people without giving them a fair trial, or even accusing them of any heinous crime. This same government wields significant influence on the United Nations Human Rights Council and has denounced people such as myself as "terrorists."
It is unlikely to receive any rebuke for its human rights record.