Sunday, May 20, 2007

Could the Bible be ruled "indecent" in Hong Kong?

This is hilarious. More than 800 Hong Kong citizens are pushing to have the Bible legally classified as indecent material. In actuality, this is all by way of making a point about freedom of speech and of the press. Recently a column in a university newspaper containing frank discussions of deviant sex practices like bestiality was deemed indecent by the ominously-named Obscene Articles Tribunal. In reaction, the complaints about the excessive sexual and violent content of the Bible were filed. I have to admit, the idea of two girls getting their father drunk and screwing him, and all on the orders of God, to boot, might not go over well with many of today's proponents of Biblical "morality." But that, I'm sure, will remain on the list of Bible stories they don't read to you in Sunday School.

It's still all up in the air — and probably not likely; as Christopher Hitchens and others have pointed out lately, you can get away with anything if you slap the label "religion" on it — whether or not the Tribunal will agree with the complaints and actually declare the Bible an indecent publication. But I have to admit the thought of this makes me giggle:

If the Bible is ... classified as "indecent" by authorities, only those over 18 could buy the holy book and it would need to be sealed in a wrapper with a statutory warning notice.

I'm sure Larry Flynt is smiling.

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful. TAE is one of the most amusing and pithy atheist blogs on the internet.

    I reposted this story on my own blog. I don't often repost stories whole, and I started to wonder: is doing so a violation of any unwritten code of blogging etiquette?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lots daughters didn't do the deed on the order of God, mind you.

    ReplyDelete

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