David Berlinski has some useful advice for college students:

I would suggest to any student . . do what I’m sure he hasn’t done: Go read the Old Testament. That should be your first challenge. . . .The Old Testament is the greatest repository of human knowledge and wisdom in the history of civilization, any time, any place . . . . [E]very attitude current today in the discussion from Richard Dawkins to me to Christopher Hitchins, the lonely pastors in the Bible Belt on Sunday morning ranting from a particular text, is discussed in the Bible. There is a character in the Bible who expresses that point of view and there is sympathy expressed for that point of view and there are reservations expressed for that sympathy. It is enormously complex, rich, and dramatic piece of work.