The God Squad
Forget the Ten Commandments (Moses is so BC). The ROM has asked Christopher Hitchens, A. J. Jacobs and Camille Paglia for a new list of moral imperatives. Welcome to Bible Study 2009 By Ryan Bigge
Covetous Torontonians aren’t likely to take kindly to another set of commandments, but that’s the premise of a lecture series tied to the ROM’s highly touted Dead Sea scrolls exhibit. Boozy contrarian Christopher Hitchens (the anti-theist), stunt journalist A. J. Jacobs (the Jewish agnostic) and renegade feminist Camille Paglia (calling all atheists) have each been asked to play God and recalibrate our moral compass, one “thou shalt/shalt not” at a time. An ethics lesson from a Mother Teresa–hating ex-socialist, a guy who spent 365 days literally living biblically, and a Madonna fan with a porn fetish? Amen.
The Three New Commandments are written on June 2, 9 and 16. $28 per lecture. The Dead Sea scrolls unravel on June 27. $28. The Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, 416-586-8000, rom.on.ca.
Hitchens courtesy of Random House/Christian Witkin; Paglia courtesy of Random House/Misa Martin; Jacobs courtesy of Simon and Schuster/Michael Cogliantry; Moses from iStockPhotoComments
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