The Bible's Shifting Canon
A common refrain among Atheists is that the oldest manuscripts of the Bible that we possess are copies of copies, often involving numerous scribal errors and mistranslations. A competing Christian claim is that the Bible as we have it today is virtually identical to the ancient manuscripts, and that the ancient manuscripts largely agree with one another. Where the two camps seem to generally agree is in the belief that there have been no modern changes to the Bible (save for the appearance of new translations). This seems to be an unspoken assumption on the part of both camps, with most people I've spoken to believing that the Bible was set in stone either at the Council of Nicea or with the publishing of the King James Bible. This belief in the absence of modern changes is so pervasive that I've frequently seen Christians attempt to extend an olive branch to other denominations (especially Protestants reaching out to Catholics) by saying "we may disagree on some things, b...