The Bible is frequently invoked in the ongoing national debates about abortion, almost always to show that abortion is murder and strictly forbidden. Is that true?

This episode is not meant to resolve the issue about whether abortion should ever be considered a legitimate procedure or not.

The focus is on what the Bible actually says. Does it condemn abortion? Does it indicate that the fetus is to be considered a human with human rights, so that abortion constitutes murder? When, according to the Bible, does life begin. The overarching point of the episode is that those who cite the Bible in support of their social and political views should at least read what it says and be clear about what it means.

New manuscripts discoveries in Biblical studies are often outed as forgeries, But sometimes -- rarely -- they turn out to be authentic.

How do scholars distinguish between fact and fiction, especially when they only have access to photographs or copies? Is it possible for a text to pass all authenticity tests and still be a clever forgery?

Today we’re back with Dr. Morton Smith and the Secret Gospel of Mark to discuss he discovered an actual ancient document with unknown information about Jesus, or turned up a forgery of some kind, or possibly even forged it himself.

When a scholar claims to have discovered a new text from early Christianity, it can send shockwaves through the academic community.

In the case of the "Secret Gospel of Mark," the shockwaves are still being felt today after over 65 years later. And scholars still can't agree on whether the text in question is authentically ancient, a modern forgery, or something else.

There are huge implications. The traces of this "secret Gospel" allegedly discovered in 1958 by Morton Smith, a professor of ancient history at Columbia University, have been interpreted (by Smith himself) to indicate that Jesus engaged in homosexual rituals with the followers he baptized in the nude. In this week’s episode, we’re discussing the discovery of this amazing text, what it actually says, and how scholars have interpreted the intriguing passages it contain