Hong Kong Authorities Ponder Labeling Bible 'Indecent'

Report: Hong Kong Authorities Ponder Labeling Bible 'Indecent'
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

The Good Book isn't clean enough for Hong Kong.
Residents of the city are calling for an "indecent" label for the Bible, saying the text contains passages that are too gory for young eyes, Reuters reports.
At least 838 complaints had been registered Wednesday with the city's Television and Entertainment Licensing authority after an anonymous Web site, truthbible.net, said the Bible "made one tremble" with its sexual and violent content, including rape and incest, the news agency reports.
The Chinese city has been debating the merits of indecency since a recent sex column published in the Chinese University's "Student Press" magazine asked readers about their violent sexual fantasies.
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That column was branded as indecent by the Obscene Articles Tribunal.
If the Bible is labeled indecent in Hong Kong, people over the age of 18 will be the only ones able to purchase the book, and it would have to be sold with a warning label wrapped around the book.
The Web site truthbible.net already includes an English-language warning: "Legal Disclaimer Warning: This Web site contains Bible material which may offend and may not be distributed, circulated, sold, hired, given, lent, shown, played or projected to a person under the age of 18 years."
But the prospect of the underage Bible ban has local ministers scoffing.
"If there is rape mentioned in the Bible, it doesn't mean it encourages those activities," Reuters quoted Reverend Wu Chi-wai, Protestant minister, as saying. "It's just common sense ... I don't think that criticism will have strong support from the public."