South Carolina has implemented a book ban on books not “age or developmentally appropriate” that is intended to target books that challenge right-wing extremist thought. I.E. books about race, gender, sexuality, reproductive health, abuse, rape, and similar themes.
As a Christian, I believe in the Bible as the word of God. While I believe context matters, and it’s dangerous–even un-Christian–to uncritically apply this book literally without any regard for context (literally, spiritually, and socially), many others who call themselves Christians disagree and believe we should follow it literally. With that in mind, I present the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 13:1-7 (NIV):
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
It seems clear that the literal reading of the book compels us to follow authorities. Well, since the authorities have decided age inappropriate books should be banned, I want to help you challenge at least some of them: the various translations of The Holy Bible.
The Holy Bible is a College-Level Text
Different translations use different levels of language complexity. Using an online readability scoring website, we find the following about different versions (I used the text I quoted above, Romans 13:1-7 in all versions):
- The New International Version: high school grades
- New Catholic Bible: high school grades
- King James Version: junior high/high school (I would argue that the archaic language makes this text significantly more difficult than algorithmic scores indicate)
- New King James Version: junior high/high school
- New American Standard Bible: junior high/high school
- New American Bible (Revised Edition): high school
- International Children’s Bible: 3rd-6th grade (late elementary school)
Of course I talk about grade levels above, not ages. It turns out most people in America, by the time they are adults, do not read at a high school level. Indeed, more than half of American adults do not read at the 6th grade level. Thus, we can set the 5th grade as an “adult” age level, to be generous, since we’ll assume that the median adult (the one who does not read at the 6th grade level) is near the top end of “not 6th grade”. In this case, even the International Children’s Bible is at the edge of age-appropriateness for an American Adult. Perhaps this explains why there are so many strange interpretations of the text, and why it gets applied in situations for which it is ill suited.
As an aside, the above paragraph scores at between junior high and high school, so I don’t necessarily expect all Americans to understand it. That’s one of the reasons we have a divide between college-educated people and non-college-educated people in the USA: we literally can’t communicate. It’s hard for a college-educated person, particularly one in a writing-heavy academic field (such as mine, gender studies) to write in a way that is actually accessible, despite our best efforts. We’re trained on and expected to write texts at a college grade level, and few of us are taught to read and write in accessible ways (but do you know who is taught to make reading and writing accessible? Teachers and librarians! And they should be the people we turn to, not GOP politicians or conservative parents, to decide what writing is accessible; I suspect most would think the Bible is accessible to enough of their students to justify having one on the school library bookshelf).
Regardless, the Bible is not age appropriate. In South Carolina, 22% of adults (same link as the one on the average American adult reading level) can’t read English at the first grade level, and according to the US Department of Education, South Carolina has a lower-than-US-average literacy rate (perhaps this is a reason why conservatives wish to eliminate the Department of Education). According to the same article, one reason for this extremely low literacy is the lack of access to print materials through libraries in their (often rural) area. You combat illiteracy with access to reading, particularly reading materials that stretch the reading abilities of the person reading it (this is why colleges expose freshmen to college-level texts, before they are fully able to easily understand them). But in South Carolina, the school system has decided age appropriateness, not pedagogy (that is, an understanding of how to teach), should determine what books are available.
So, just looking at reading level, we know the Bible is a bad choice in a public school, if “age appropriateness” is the key criteria. However, for the remainder of this critique on the age appropriateness of the Bible, I’ll stick with the International Children’s Bible, the only version I looked at that an average American adult can read (still nearly half might not be able to read it). Let’s see how that stacks up for age-appropriateness when we look at the contents rather than sentence structures.
Nudity
The Bible is full of sex.
The book starts with two people who are enjoying running around naked in a public garden. This is not the behavior we want of children!
Gen 2:24: So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife. And the two people will become one body.
Clearly this, supposedly children’s book, is talking about some sort of penetrative intercourse between men and women. Sure, it doesn’t use the word “intercourse,” but I think we all know what it is talking about.
It also tells us that they were nudists:
Gen 2:25: The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.
In the context, it’s talking about a perfect garden before the fall of man, at least in an Evangelical Christian worldview. But if that’s perfection: running around naked, not being ashamed, is it what we want to teach children? I’ll note that there was no wedding license issued and no marriage ceremony, so not only were these two naked, and unashamed, but they weren’t even married.
Polygamy
This continues throughout the first book (who was later, somehow, married to him):
Gen 4:1: Adam had intimate relations with his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. Eve said, “With the Lord’s help, I have given birth to a man.”‘
How exactly did this third person (“the Lord”) provide “help?” Do we really want to teach children about threesomes? Since South Carolina defines marriage as between one man and one woman in Article XVII, § 15 (US constitution be damned, but likewise § 2 of the same article which requires people holding a state office believe in God). Regardless, I suspect many agreeing with book bans feel kindergarten or first grade is a bit young to hear about how babies are made.
Of course this isn’t just the old testament that talks about polygamy. Jesus talks to a woman with “five husbands” in John 4:17b-18 (and yes, we’re still looking at the International Children’s Bible):
Jesus said to her, “You are right to say you have no husband. Really you have had five husbands. But the man you live with now is not your husband. You told the truth.”
In talking about a wise man, King Solomon, the Bible says this:
1 Kings 11:1: He had 700 wives who were from royal families. He also had 300 slave women who gave birth to his children. His wives caused him to turn away from God.
At what age is polygamy a valid subject in school? What about the 300 not married to him but which had his children (again, teaching about sex outside of marriage, except when talking about dangers of unmarried sex, is against South Carolina law).
Descriptions Genitals and Sex with Animals
In Ezekiel 23:20, most versions compare a woman’s lovers’ (yes, multiple) penis size to a donkey’s penis, and, further, the amount of ejaculation to a horse. For instance:
(NIV) She lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.
The International Children’s Bible is less explicit, but still speaks of multiple lovers:
(ICB) She wanted men who behaved like animals in their sexual desire.
Is this okay for young children?
Other verses also talk about sex with animals. For instance, Leviticus 20:16 in this supposedly-Children’s Bible:
Lev 20:16a: A woman might have unnatural relations with an animal.
Incest
The Bible is full of incest!
In the introduction to the book, Genesis, we learn that all humans came from Adam and Eve, which raises the question, “Who did Adam and Eve’s kids have sex with to have children?” The book doesn’t even say this was immoral! Likewise, after the flood, the only humans left alive in this book were Noah and his family. Who did they have sex with to have the children the book says they had?
But beyond this, let’s look at Lot’s daughters in Genesis 19:30-38:
Lot was afraid to continue living in Zoar. So he and his two daughters went to live in the mountains. They lived in a cave there. One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old. Everywhere on the earth women and men marry. But there are no men around here for us to marry. Let’s get our father drunk. Then we can have physical relations with him. We can use our father to have children. That way we can continue our family.”
That night the two girls got their father drunk. Then the older daughter went and had physical relations with him. But Lot did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I had physical relations with my father. Let’s get him drunk again tonight. Then you can go and have physical relations with him, too. In this way we can use our father to have children to continue our family.” So that night they got their father drunk again. Then the younger daughter went and had physical relations with him. Again, Lot did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter gave birth to a son. She named him Moab. Moab is the ancestor of all the Moabite people who are still living today. The younger daughter also gave birth to a son. She named him Ben-Ammi. He is the father of all the Ammonite people who are still living today.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of references to incest:
2 Samuel 13:11-14: She went to him so he could eat from her hands. But Amnon grabbed her. He said, “Sister, come and have physical relations with me.”
Tamar said to him, “No, brother! Don’t force me! This should never be done in Israel! Don’t do this shameful thing! I could never get rid of my shame! And you will become like the shameful fools in Israel! Please talk with the king. He will let you marry me.”
But Amnon refused to listen to her. He was stronger than she was. So he raped her.
Rape
Rape is also common throughout the Bible. A literal reading would indicate that rape victim should be forced to marry her rapist, according to the International Children’s Bible:
Deuteronomy 22:28-29: A man might meet a virgin who is not engaged to be married. He might force her to have physical relations with him. And people might find out about it. The man must pay the girl’s father about one and one-fourth pounds of silver. He must also marry the girl because he has dishonored her. And he may never divorce her for as long as he lives.
Note the discussion about rape in Zecharaih 14:2:
I will bring all the nations together to fight Jerusalem. They will capture the city and rob the houses. The women will be raped. Half the people will be taken away as captives. But the rest won’t be taken from the city.
Or this text in this “children’s” book:
Isaiah 13:16: Their little children will be beaten to death as their parents watch. Everything in their houses will be stolen. And their wives will be raped.
Genital Mutilation/Surgery on Youth
Circumcision is a genital surgery that is permanent and changes the genitals of people with penises. When is someone old enough to learn about this in South Carolina?
Genesis 17:12-14: From now on when a baby boy is eight days old, you will circumcise him. This includes any boy born among your people or any who is your slave. (He would not be one of your descendants.) So circumcise every baby boy. Circumcise him whether he is born in your family or bought as a slave. Your bodies will be marked. This will show that you are part of my agreement that lasts forever. Any male who is not circumcised will be separated from his people. He has broken my agreement.
Abortion
Beyond age appropriateness, abortion is generally banned (except when talking about risks of abortion) as a topic even in sexual education classes in South Carolina.
That doesn’t stop the Bible from talking about it.
Exodus 21:22: Two men might be fighting, and they might hit a pregnant woman so that the baby comes out. But there is no further injury. Then the man who caused the injury must pay money. He must pay what the woman’s husband says and the court allows.
While that doesn’t directly say “abortion”, the “baby comes out” is a way of sneaking abortion into this book. No mention is made that the baby survives, and it speaks of injury (by saying “no further injury”, clearly there was an injury; childbirth in itself is not normally “injury”).
Likewise, whlie not directly saying “abortion”, Numbers 5:21 speaks of a forced supernatural abortion as a punishment delivered by a priest:
The priest will tell her the curse that the oath will bring. He will say, “If you are guilty, the Lord will make the people curse you. Your stomach will get big, and you will not be able to have another baby.
Other versions make this more clear (saying this curse will result in miscarriage), but still this is a coded way of saying abortion.
Homosexuality
Many homosexual advocates recognize the clear homosexuality in the story of David and Johnathan. For instance:
1 Samuel 20:17: And Jonathan asked David to repeat his promise of love for him. He did this because he loved David as much as he loved himself.
and:
1 Samuel 20:41: When the boy left, David came out from the south side of the rock. He bowed facedown on the ground before Jonathan. He did this three times. Then David and Jonathan kissed each other. They cried together, but David cried the most.
Indeed, earlier in the book, Jonathan gave his own clothes to David.
Another story, about a gay centurion and his lover, whom Jesus healed, is discussed by scholars, which may be “boy-love” (and problematic for this reason).
Gender Ideology
Galations 3:28: Now, in Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek. There is no difference between slaves and free men. There is no difference between male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus.
See that? “There is no difference between male and female.” Yet it is the policy of South Carolina that there is significant, important differences between male and female! Clearly this book is teaching something that the state decided is age-inappropriate.
So…is it age appropriate?
While a reasonable adult would say, “Of course the Bible is fine to be read by whoever wants to read it,” South Carolina (and similar states) have chosen to define sexuality as age-inappropriate, particularly sexuality that isn’t monogamous, married, straight PIV sex. By this standard, the Bible is inappropriate, just as a fictional book with a gay character or mention of gay sexuality might be in their eyes.
The idea at play here is not “these themes will damage children.” If that was the prime concern, more focus would be placed on the shockingly high number of children who are raped and molested by trusted adults, the high suicide rate of LGBT youth in non-affirming environments, and teen pregnancy (beyond just saying “just say no”). I mean when it is too young for a child who was raped to read about rape? No, the intent here is to make life difficult for LGBT youth. The idea is that if they make life of LGBT youth difficult, youth will “choose” to not be gay or trans, because being gay or trans would without making it difficult, it would be too easy in our society to be gay or trans. It’s an idea founded in tough-love, that by being mean when someone does something morally wrong, you can encourage them to do the moral thing. Of course this means they say gayness and transness as morally wrong.
Yet, you can’t directly attack gayness or transness in law or by government order. That’s illegal. But you can claim you care about “age appropriateness,” or at least you can try that tactic. And that is exactly what South Carolina and other book-banning states are doing. By eliminating representation of LGBT people, that serves to tell kids who never find a book in a library that talks of a gay person, that gayness and transness isn’t normal, and, more than that, it’s something to hide. It’s designed to make that gay or trans kid hide who they are, by reinforcing that the only acceptable sexuality is straight sexuality and cisgender identity.
But it is not just about LGBT identity. As the NAACP points out, book bans are a state policy of anti-Blackness in action. Here, the concern is that if people learn about race, they might learn that rather than anti-Blackness just being “some white people are bad people,” that even “good” people can be part of a bad system. For instance, policies that fail to recognize the ways whites benefit today from historic practices, and that Blacks today are harmed from historic practices, can’t possibly create equality. But if you believe a understanding of our shared past and the impact it’s had on different groups of people, this is a dangerous thought. And we wouldn’t want our youth to have dangerous thoughts, would we?
A final word on what I did here
The book banners typically take things out-of-context. They’ll find a passage, isolated from the rest of the book, that without any context shocks the more conservative listener. That’s what I did here (which is, sadly, how a lot of Christians actually use the Bible–finding passages that support what they already believe, ignoring any context around the book, society, or history). I also critiqued the Bible here in a way that is the least favorable to the Bible, ignoring parts that lack controversy and the ability to shock or anger. This is similar to how book-banners read books.
I hope that people will see the absurdity of applying the standard of “age appropriateness” to the Bible. But many won’t. Gay and trans people are icky to them, and some would rather a dead kid than a gay kid. But maybe someone will actually think through how it might feel to be on the other side.
And, for what it is worth, I love the Bible. I also commend the International Children’s Bible translators for creating a fairly simple, yet fairly faithful, representation of the text. We don’t need to hide difficult things from kids.
But I also recognize that people can and do use the Bible to inflict great harm, largely by applying an uncritical reading ignorant of changes in society, the character of God, and the context of the writings, and choosing instead an overly literal reading that supports a hateful belief. Fellow Christians: be better.
Gendered Thoughts 