Nov
2
Ian McKellen, Bible Destroyer
November 2, 2009 by Brandon 2 Comments
Everyone knows Sir Ian McKellen for his starring roles in movies like The Lord of the Rings and the X-Men, but not many people, much to my surprise, know that he is openly gay.
Being a man who travels a lot and spends a lot of time in hotels while filming on location in other countries, McKellen knows that just about every hotel you can find has made it customary to place a Gideon bible in one of the nightstand drawers in the room.
I don’t stay in hotels much, but I was in one over the summer while at the beach, and sure enough one of these bibles was in the room. To my knowledge, the bibles are there for you to take. So it isn’t considered stealing if you were to do so. Sir McKellen, however, makes a far better statement than simply discarding the bible or removing it. He tears out the section in Leviticus that condemns homosexuality and puts the book back in the drawer.
It’s catching on. McKellen says that numerous people are doing the same thing, and a couple he knows has even torn a total of forty pages that they sent to him.
“They put them on a bit of string so that I could hang it up in the bathroom.”
Comments
2 Comments so far:
What is Fractal Wrongness?
The state of being wrong at every conceivable scale of resolution. That is, from a distance, a fractally wrong person's worldview is incorrect; and furthermore, if you zoom in on any small part of that person's worldview, that part is just as wrong as the whole worldview.
Recent Comments
Brandon on Not In Mah ‘Murica!: "I have to agree with you that people just aren’t taking a moment to consider this. At all...."
gfunkusarelius on Not In Mah ‘Murica!: "I see why people have an initial adverse reaction, but if anyone considers the..."
gunsandsuch on Salvation Army: Christian Cult: "From the original post: That’s what’s about to happen to Capt. Johnny Harsh, leader of..."
aaa on Salvation Army: Christian Cult: "it’s funny seeing people freak out over such novel things. every church setting has a..."- gunsandsuch on Atheist Billboard Defaced: "I know right I always found the first part of the ten commandments in Exodus to be..."
- Brandon on Atheist Billboard Defaced: "What a douche. I mean, if I could bend the very fabric of reality to my will, I don’t..."
- Brandon on Salvation Army: Christian Cult: "Only if that hot Russian spy will help."
- gunsandsuch on Atheist Billboard Defaced: "“Things like this always make me wonder how insecure religious people think their god..."
- gunsandsuch on Salvation Army: Christian Cult: "Do I smell a Fractally Wrong undercover mission? We could call it Atheist Mole ™"
- Brandon on Salvation Army: Christian Cult: "Oh, oh! I want to join the Salvation Army. I bet they’ll welcome an atheist with open..."
Blogroll
Visitors Online
- 01 visitor(s) online
- powered by WassUp
I do not see the point of leaving an edited bible back in the hotel’s nightstand.
I just take all the religious crap and try to toss it into the recycle dumpster. Why? Because then it costs the Gideons (or Mormons) MONEY to replace it, diverting funds from other projects such as political campaigns and proselytizing efforts. Also by recycling, maybe I’m saving a tree (amen).
I don’t disagree, but his actions send a very specific message. I’m aware Mr. McKellen is actually an atheist, or at least would lead many to believe such given some past quotes.
His purpose isn’t so much an act against religion as it is an act against the intolerance within that religion to homosexuality. By tearing out the page which contains that, the next person who may by chance notice this page missing (and knows their Bible) will get the message he’s sending.
If he just removes the book itself, housekeeping will replace it with a new one when he leaves.
This way, he has a chance of sending a message to the next person who actually stays in the room, even though it’s extremely unlikely.