AP
 
Charleston, Dec 4: (West Virginia): The Gospel of Luke records that, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus sho-wed his boundless mercy by praying for his killers: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Not so fast, say contributors to the Conservative Bible Project. The project, an online effort to create a Bible suitable for contemporary conservative sensibilities, claims Jesus’ quote is a disputed addition abetted by liberal biblical scholars, even if it appears in some form in almost every translation of the Bible.

The project’s authors argue that contemporary scholars have inserted liberal views and ahistorical passages into the Bible, turning Jesus into little more than a well-meaning social worker with a store of watered-down platitudes.

“Professors are the most liberal group of people in the world, and it’s professo-rs who are doing the popular modern translations of Bible,” said Andy Schlafly, founder of Conservapedi-a.com, project’s online home. Experts who have devoted their careers to unraveling ancient texts of the Scriptures, many in long-extinct languages, are predic-tably skeptical about a project by amateur translators.

Contributors to the project aren’t arguing on ideological grounds alone. The discussion forum on the site is full of discourse on Greek grammar, along with arguments long familiar to Biblical scholars about the history of certain passages.