The Bible (and other sacred texts) is accumulated wisdom from the last 5000 years.
Some of it. It is also Jewish and Xtian propaganda, myths, folktales, just so stories, plain old fiction, poetry, legal codes, flaky genealogy and a pretty healthy dose of plain old crapola.
I've noticed most believers have great difficulty seeing it for what it is because they can't admit god didn't personally write it.
We may know more e.g. in science, but we haven't got much further in terms of finding the good life.
Actually we have come a long way. Things today are significantly better for many more people than at the time. Sure its not perfect but measurable better.
Do you have any reason to disbelieve what people report about their sources of happiness?
Definitely. Religious people are noted for giving "god" credit for anything they like and the other guy credit for all they dislike.
The mystical religions have very similar core values and practices, packaged differently.
Only if you consider them in a very superficial manner. The deeper you go, the more separation you find.
They are all spiritual paths - its just they evolved in different cultures.
"Spiritual path" is being used ambiguously here. There is a great diversity you are over looking here.
Theist or non-theist religions are only different ways achieving a similar goal.
I'm not convinced the goal of Kali is the goal of JHVH is the goal of the pagan is the goal of the Confucianist is the goal of the Buddhist is the goal of the humanist. Sure they are all human endeavors and at some degree they are concerned with human needs which tend to be very similar. But the parts which make them distinct are just that, distinct.
Just like all food is not just the same path to alleviating hunger.
In the East they achieve the state of Nirvana through emptiness and meditation, in the West we enter "The Kingdom of Heaven" through contemplation and devotion. It is much the same goal.
The majority on both sides seem to disagree with you about this. Thomas Merton being a notable exception who had trouble with his church over it. Eventually god just electrocuted him to shut him up.
Then again, the Pure-land school of Buddhism pray to the Buddha of Compassion, while Quakers and Trappists practice silence.
There is ever so polite and quiet debate about whether pureland and Nichiren are really still Buddhism. Meditation can have the effect of being silent, but just being silent isn't necessarily meditation.
All these spiritual paths aim at shifting our focus away from our own finite suffering egos, to achieve greater awareness, and greater compassion, love, joy etc.
Correctly done Buddhist meditation doesn't have a purpose, even the purpose of meditation, and it isn't done for any particular result, even enlightenment. I know that sounds weird but you'll have to trust me on this one unless you want to dig through some really boring sutras/teaching histories.
Now people often start meditating for those and other reasons and it seems to often have felicitous side effects, but part of the process is letting go of all that.
All modernist ideologies (including Marxism) are based on the idea that we can make a better world through rational ideology
Ever heard of Dada?
Re-ligion literally means 'to re-connect'.
And Thurs-day means Thor's day.
one reason why I choose theism - it's about reconnecting to the Whole (not about sky-fairies).
Then why make with the sky faeries? Something inherently separate.
Here is an insight I got for my communing with the whole days. There is no whole or even with. No experience. No all. All of that stuff is explicitly dualistic. Frankly the whole is boring.
I do wish more atheists would study theology though.
You do know that a large number of atheist became atheists because they studied theology in great detail? Ex priests, ministers, monks, etc.
