Who’s Up for Burning Some Bibles?

[cleanhippie]

Mulling several recent stories about burning or defacing “holy” books:
So why aren’t we atheists burning more Bibles? I mean, really, it would make the point that these books are non-holy, and the second point that we (and others) certainly have the freedom to do it.

--snip--

I mean, hey, why not?
And yet, far as I know, no such scene has ever been recorded. Or ever will be.
I can think of several reasons....
3) The MAIN reason, the REAL reason?
Burning books? Eww. That’s just … sick.

From Nazis to middle-east Islamic protests, to Fahrenheit 451, to deep-south know-nothings burning sex-ed books and harmless novels, to brainless godders tossing the supposed witchery of Harry Potter into the flames, we all have these other pictures in our heads, such that we sort-of instinctively know: People who burn books are Bad People. Or at least stupid ones.

--snip--

Books ARE civilization. The foundation, the cornerstones, the windows and doors and protective walls that make it possible for us to exist in comfort and safety and freedom.
And for those few bad books – the Bible, the Koran, the other holy and misguiding and predatory books – the cure isn’t fire but …
More books. Better ones, truer ones.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/bluecollaratheist/2011/09/24/whos-up-for-burning-some-bibles/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

[Sinistrous]

1. Well said.

[backscatter712]

2. You know how to make more atheists...

Get more people to read the entire Bible. From beginning to end, so they see all the fucked-up parts!

[saras]

7. You need to supervise them carefully to ensure they don't come out anti-Semitic as well

If you don't actually believe in that Old Testament God and His followers, they're a pretty repulsive bunch. People reading the Bible, especially young ones, need help in understanding that people all over the world can be that vicious. Maybe they should read about the Aztecs and Genghis Khan at the same time.

I think I'd have the same controls on the Bible that I did on torture porn (whether few or many controls depends on democratic notions of acceptability, but I'd use the same standard for both, whatever it was).

[Deep13]

9. Thinking people who do horrible things are horrible is not antisemitism.

Pretty easy to think Henry Kissinger is repulsive, but John Stewart is not. One of those guys killed and maimed thousands of people. The other one tells jokes. Their Jewishness had nothing to do with it. If the stories on conquest in the OT are real--and many of them may well be--then those involved are reprehensible. But that does not effect Jews generally. (Actually, bronze age people were not really Jews in the modern sense.)

[ChadwickHenryWard]

13. I seem to recall reading about a case in which

Israeli schoolchildren were presented with the acts Joshua in the Old Testament. One group read them as they occur in scripture, while the other group read about the same events, only ascribed to a Chinese general that was roughly Joshua's contemporary. They mostly supported the acts of Joshua while condemned the actions of the Chinese as horrific wars crimes. Those who defended Joshua often said that he was excused because god had told him to do it or because god had promised the land to the Hebrews.

The morality that was acceptable at the time those books were written is utterly repulsive to us now. The concept of human rights had not yet arisen, and all manner of horrendous crimes were good and proper if they were perpetrated against a member of a rival tribe. We now recognize that kind of morality as being an unfortunate product of the time and place.

[cleanhippie]

11. +1

[lbrtbell]

3. I'm no atheist

But let the burning commence. I'm tired of Jesus freaks thinking theirs is the only right way.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Taking the easy way eh?

[cleanhippie]

6. Easy Way?

[PADemD]

5. Burning books

“That was mere foreplay. Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.” (German: “Das war Vorspiel nur. Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.”)
- Heinrich Heine, Almansor (1821)

http://atheism.about.com/od/weeklyquotes/a/heine01.htm

[Deep13]

8. If you had an excess of them and it was the best disposal option...

...I'd help you burn them along with any tree branches won had to get rid of.

"Book burning" usually means the authorities stealing someone else's book and destroying it so no one can read it. The Bible and the Koran are in mass circulation so that no one who wants to read them will be at a loss. Burn one or a few donated or purchased copies as a protest is protected 1st Am. speech and does not count as a "book-burning."

No information--real, mythological or fictional--should ever be off-limits. Anyone who wants to read the Bible or the Koran or the Talmud or Darwin or Hitchens ought to have free access to them.

[darkstar3]

10. +1

[Iggo]

12. Only if I'm freezing. (n/t)

[ButterflyBlood]

14. Go ahead

Wouldn't bother me any. Assuming you have no problem giving money to a company publishing Bibles of course.

But I'm not an idolater. As someone from the progressive Christian group I'm meeting with put it: "The Bible isn't the fourth member of the Trinity. We value the Bible, but we worship God." Burn as many Bibles as you like, you're just burning paper, nothing sacred. You won't be destroying the message.

[cleanhippie]

15. Did you even read the article? It's really NOT about burning bibles....

It's about why we shouldn't burn ANY books at all.