An atheist appreciation of religion ?

As for the Bible quote, people can find a quote for just about anything they want to advocate. They’ve done it to try to justify cruelty such as the enslavement of Africans and African-Americans; the oppression of women; imperialist wars; the abuse and torture of animals; roasting ‘heretics’ alive; the genocide of Native Americans; and so on. —-But, as an atheist, I see value in the Bible, as well as other religious or spiritual texts such as the Koran or the Upanishads. I look to those and other ‘sacred’ texts for inspiration regarding empathy, love, and compassion which comprise a universal ethic, regardless of religious faith or absence thereof.———- In that sense, the Bible can be used to fight injustice, such as it was used by Abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison more than one hundred years ago, Dorothy Day about 80 years ago, and Martin Luther King Jr almost 50 years ago. But the Christian voices for fighting for justice for oppressed people might be drowned out by the social conservatives who some say have “hijacked” Christianity in the US——We can draw inspiration from the religious or spiritual writings of major and lesser known faith traditions without believing they are the infallible and immutable expressions of a god. ——My comment about fundamentalism wasn’t meant as an insult. With our rational minds, we might recognize that extremism and fanaticism detract from our capacity to love, whether it’s Islamic or Christian or Hindu or some other form of religious or secular extremism. —–The message from the New Testament that makes the most sense is the one about love. That message links Christianity to all other religions as well as linking it to non-religious ethical systems. —–I’m not sure why some of the folk calling themselves ‘Christians’ seem preoccupied with hell and Satan, instead of focusing on Jesus Christ. That’s intended as a genuine concern, not an insult.