'Brick' breaker: Lego bible too racy for Sam's Club

[NMMNG]

The Bible, told with Lego illustrations, was apparently too much for some Sam's Club customers:

<snip>

On his Web site, Smith's Brick Testament contains a series of interpretations of sexually suggestive passages of the Bible, but in the latest book version, those sections were removed.

"I have just been informed that Sam's Club is pulling 'The Brick Bible' from the shelves of all of their retail locations nationwide due to the complaints of a handful of people that it is vulgar and violent," Smith wrote on his Facebook page on Monday. "This despite the book containing only straightforward illustrations of Bible stories using direct quotes from scripture."

<snip>

In an e-mail interview, Smith said that he had found out about the Sam's Club ban from his publisher who told him that, essentially, "the book was pulled after an unspecified small number of complaints had been made by Sam's Club customers that the book is vulgar and violent, and that the author is an atheist."

<snip>

What seems possible is that those who complained to Sam's Club about the book didn't realize that the sexually suggestive material had been removed. Indeed, Tabitha Grace, the woman who posted about her feelings that Smith is an atheist wrote that "I came home and did some research...And would NOT recommend this as a gift for children...Please research this book if you have intentions of getting this for someone. I wanted to share this concern because it is being portrayed as something it is NOT."

<snip>

It bills itself as "a new spin on the Old Testament as told by Powell Smith". I don't see where Tabitha Grace gets the notion that it's being portrayed as something it's not.

What's more amusing is the complaints that the book is "vulgar" and "violent". Of course it is. Consider the source material.

[struggle4progress]

1. ... the artist describes his epiphany at the local Taco Bell, when his burrito burst into flames and

God's unmistakable voice told him "from this day forth you will illustrate for Me, My most holy of books, the Bible, completely in Lego." But I'm an atheist, protested Smith, 30, who grew up Episcopalian ...

Philadelphia Inquirer - 11 December 2003
"In the beginning" was a snap.
What if God was one of those little Lego guys?
By Daniel Rubin
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.thebricktestament.com/press/philadelphia_inquirer_03_12_11.html

[sarcasmo]

2. Stupid and violent is more appropriate.

[Major Nikon]

3. Great reason for banning it

They should chuck the bible in the dumpster also for the same reasons.

[sarcasmo]

4. Right on.

[NMMNG]

6. But they consider it a great source of morality

and a tool for teaching values. Go figure.

[Major Nikon]

8. One has to doubt their committment

I don't see too many of them stoning to death their daughter-in-law for not being a virgin on her wedding night.

[Quartermass]

5. I wonder why nobody thinks to tell the whiners to shut the f-bomb up.

America the whining land
Must complain every day
No purple mountain majesties
And there's no fruited planes

America, America
Thou whines too much for me
There is simply
No other good
That the whiners see

[NMMNG]

7. I just sit back and laugh

They talk about how beautiful and moral their Bible is. Then when it's laid out for them they cry about the vulgarity and violence. Did they really think murder, genocide, rape and the like were beautiful and moral until they saw it in pictures, or were they simply not paying attention?

[aCurious1]

9. Do the critics even read or look through the book?

In his original article about this on CNET.com, Daniel Terdiman makes an interesting point when he concludes with his speculation that Tabitha Grace, who posted about her feelings regarding Smith as an atheist, probably went home, did research on the internet, found Smith's more sexually suggestive depictions and ascribed them to the book itself without noting that these depictions have been removed from the book. This is "interesting" because I wonder how many of the critical voices behind The Brick Bible and the many other banned and pulled books from stores and libraries have actually been read by these most rabidly ardent critics.

[NMMNG]

10. Generally not

In most cases like this it starts with one person seeing the title or front cover of a book (or the author). Then they make claims based on their assumptions of the content and take it from there. Dozens or hundreds of e-mails later it's a huge issue, a boycott has been called, books have been removed from shelves and still nobody has a clue what's inside them.