>>However, they haven't said that the bible might have some nice stories in it, but it really has no more moral authority than - say - the Canterbury Tales, the legend of King Arthur or the latest Star Trek film.
You're saying that they're hypocrites unless they make demeaning statements against themselves? Why should they?
Meanwhile there's a US state where it's illegal to take a lion to the movies. We can scoff at something so absurd, or we can accept that there was a time and a reason when it made sense to document such a law. Most likely to preserve the dignity and enjoyment of others, a consideration that persists no matter how or when it was expressed. Certainly few would assert that this law proves that having to be considerate of others in the movie theater is a crock, which is how people try to use quaint bible stories.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1