17 May 2007: Bible challenged

Hong Kong’s obscene publications regulator has received over 800 demands to reclassify the Bible as “indecent”.

The calls come after a row over a sex column in a university student journal. The column was declared indecent by the Obscene Articles Tribunal, sparking a storm of debate about social morality and freedom of speech. Defending the student column, a Hong Kong website pointed out that the Bible contains sexual and violent content, including rape and incest, and called upon viewers to register complaints about it. As at yesterday lunchtime 838 complaints had been received.

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

Anyone wishing to check the website’s claims can go to http://www.truthbible.net/, but should note that the site is in Chinese with no English-language version. Or they could just read their Bible.