Inspired language

 I'm struck today by this: Having seen George Carlin's clever but so-often ill-informed takes on such subjects as language (the shell-shock bit) and text (the Ten Commandments bit), I marvel at how easily so many people who really don't know what they're talking about talk with such apparent authority. Politicians are worse than comedians on this score of course. The most prominent, particularly in the G.O.P., can be safely said to know nothing about anything while they declare themselves experts on everything. 

What does this have to do with the Bible? 

There are two sorts of readers of the Bible: those who think that it is inspired--which includes Jews, Christians, and Muslims--and those who don't. Most of those who don't are atheists. But, in a particular way, even an atheist can believe that the Bible was inspired by God. It doesn't absolutely require the existence of God. But I'll hold off on that. 

With perhaps some exceptions we need not worry about, all Christians, religious Jews, and Muslims will tell you the Bible is inspired by God. What interests me is that they can all utter that sentence. And this would seem to suggest there's something they can all agree on. 

But that's an illusion. What they mean by "inspired" is so varied and has such difference and nuance that despite the fact that they can all utter the sentence, they don't agree on the meaning of the sentence. They all agree that God exists. But what they mean by "God" also varies so much--and not just between the three groups but equally within each--that even to say THAT is not to say anything. It is not the mark of anything they all actually agree on.