I wanted to add a couple of other thoughts to round out my last post. I believe that the Bible is considered by many academics as a great literary work, regardless as to whether it is historically real or not. Great works of fiction, by authors such as Shakespeare and Dostoevsky as a couple that come to mind and many others, are considered to contain truths about human nature. Many see the Bible to be in the same category, with its historicity in this regard being irrelevant.
Also, I believe that there is a lot of value in academic Biblical criticism. For example, Marcus Borg's book "Jesus" does a great job of using critical techniques including those used in the Jesus Seminar, to tease out what parts of the NT appear to be plausible and those that might not. (He would have made a great Skeptiko guest had he not passed away last year.)
Sorry to take up so much time on this point. I just think that there is a lot of evidence of great value in the Bible, and that it just needs to be put in its proper context, not written off as completely false, useless, and even harmful. I see it as an important work in the history of spirituality, and believe that from deep examination, a lot can be gleaned from it. Of course, this is just my opinion and I respect the views that others have.