Storm of Debate over the Bible

According to an article entitled "Bible Under Fire in Hong Kong for Sexual, Violent Content" in the Christian Post, TELA (Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority), the media decency watchdog group has been flooded with at least 838 complaints against the Bible for its sexual and violent contents.

Protesters want the Bible reclassified as “indecent.” Local media say complaints refer to acts of violence, rape, incest and cannibalism. It would be illegal for minors under 18 years of age to purchase it the Bible would have to be wrapped with a statutory warning notice.

The complaints are thought to have sparked from an anonymous website, www.truthbible.net, which urged readers to press TELA to reclassify the Bible as an indecent publication. A column in the Chinese University's Student Press magazine may have sparked the debate when it was labeled as indecent by the Obscene Articles Tribunal because its survey asked readers if they ever fantasized about incest or bestiality.

The survey has sparked a storm of debate over social morality and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.

Two of the Top Banned Books and the Blizzard of '77

At the Pelham Library, we have been reminiscing about the Blizzard of '77, during this 30 year anniversary of the event. I was amused to find this article by a friend in the Welland Tribune which mentions two of the most banned and challenged books of all time. With the permission of the editor, the story appears in full. Photo: Erno Rossi, author of White Death reads over stories from 30 years ago.

The Blizzard of '77
by Brian DiMartile

Ah! The blizzard of 77! I remember it well. Who doesn't? After finishing teaching, I stopped to shop at the Pen Centre, not really comprehending the total effects that this storm would bring. Warnings spread like an avalanche that the 406 to Welland was closed; that one would be crazy to even attempt to make it home.

Lo and behold, I bumped into my Aunt Lorraine and three other Wellanders. All of us wanted to get home and decided to pile into my large Lincoln thinking that it had a better chance of ploughing through the drifts than any of their lighter weight vehicles.

As we started south, I felt quite nervous but confident enough that we could make it ­ until we went further. Cars were piled everywhere and no life was in sight. Blowing snow whipped around us as we zigzagged in darkness from lane to lane, trying to avoid the abandoned vehicles. We knew that we were in trouble when we confronted a graveyard of giant ploughs left stranded at the corner of Highway 20.

To make matters worse, one woman in the back seat with my aunt was moaning and screaming that we were all going to die. She had no rosary and wished that she had not changed purses that day. As she wailed in competition with the wind, my aunt tried to calm her.

Her screams were not welcomed by anyone since all of us thought that there could be an element of truth at the foundation of her fear. At her wits end, my aunt reached through the darkness for a book on the back shelf; shoved it in the lady¹s hand and screamed, "Here¹s a Bible. Pray for us!" The woman clutched the book to her bosom. She felt safer now as she began reciting the Lord¹s Prayer ­ at least a hundred times.

We made it as far as the old Sportsman Motel at Turners Corners and spent the night there. That Bible and her prayers had helped us find sanctuary ­ according to her. It wasn't until the dawn of the next day that she realized that she had been praying with one of my literature texts not the Bible.

We all had a chuckle and thanked God for hearing her prayers - even if it seemed blasphemous to have been using one of the most controversial and banned books in North America -- THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

Lego People Burning Books in the Bible

Here is an example of what happens when someone with too much Lego has too much time on their hands.

The content of The Brick Testament is rated for Nudity, Sexual Content, Violence, and Cursing. The web site claims, "242 stories with 2,758 illustraions. More to come..."

In case you were wondering, this particular story is rated N for Nudity and V for Violence.

A "banning" of Epic Proportions

According to an article in the Glouster County Times (NJ), at least three parents of students attending Clearview Regional High School are unhappy with a modern translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. One parent is not trying to challenge the whole book, just sections that she considers sexually descriptive and unnecessarily explicit.

Another parent described the work which dates back to about 1700 BCE, as "bizarre," "pornography," and "sheer smut."

I wonder if these parents have read the Song of Solomon. It is also sexually descriptive but it is in the Bible (considered another banned book).

Banned Book Display Banned

Banned Books

Posted 2006-10-05

According to the Daily New Record, Banned Books Week was not recognized by all libraries. Harrison High School in Virginia had set up a display of banned books in order to bring the issue of freedom to read to the consciousness of their students. Included were titles such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Fahrenheit 451, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Bible.

Superintendent Donald Ford noticed that students seemed to be enticed into reading particular titles just because they were in the display and felt that in the interests of the students, the display should be removed.

The editor of the local paper concludes with:

Today’s word has been "irony." Now let’s move on to words such as "ideas," "literature," and "freedom."

A bigger irony would be that the students are even more intrigued by what titles would have been in the display, that they would read them and discuss censorship issues at school