[mrnoodle]

There was a version of the bible called the "Good News Bible" that was made around the Jesus freak era of the 70s. It's kind of fun to read -- only the NT was translated though. Lots of "groovy" language, iirc.

Smurf, I too was raised in the southern baptist tradition and feel your pain. But don't blame the big haired ladies and green bean casseroles on God. They mean well, same as anyone else. Baptists are just people who don't wave to each other in the liquor store. And most of em that I know are decent people (again, just like any other group). One or two of them got in the news with the 'matthew shepard is burning in hell' thing, but they don't represent the rest of us. The southern baptist church is the protestant version of the roman catholic one. Top heavy leadership that concentrates more on matters of "policy" and such than on matters pertaining to the soul. It's a disease that organized religion has to fight against.