Ian McKellen Admits to Ripping Pages from The Bible

May the Holy Spirit continue to speak to him and may the Lord win this wrestling in the night that he is going through.

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Since the Torah is a finite book expressing the will of an infinite God, many lessons must be derivable from each passage from all the infinite angles.

Yes, that may be what this "unrest" is.....

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"It is a kingly act to assist the fallen." ~Mother Teresa

Well, I don't agree with his actions but I'll defend his right to take those actions.
Ringo

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"As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"
-- Treaty of Tripoli, 1797. Presented to Congress and signed by everyone in attendance.

well ok, he has a right to express whatever feelings or motivation that drove him to such a thing....but seriously, it's oddly strange and just foolish...

He COULD request to have any Bibles removed from any of his rooms...he KNOWS they're gonna be there.....

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"It is a kingly act to assist the fallen." ~Mother Teresa

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Originally Posted by suzybeezy

<snip>

He doesn’t hesitate to confirm rumors that he tears the pages of Leviticus 18:22 out of copies of The Bible in his hotel rooms either. (The chapter deals with a number of sexual activities that are considered to be abominable, including homosexuality.)

Personally I've never been a big fan of his, and this blatant blasphemy will likely impact whether I support him financially by watching his movies in the future.

First of all, to get a sense of proportion on this one, it is not blasphemy to tear pages out of a Bible. It is, however, vandalism, if the Bible in question is not your own personal property, as in this case.

The question then is, does Mr McKellan have the right to vandalise a book which is offered by whatever organisation to whoever occupies that hotel room? It all depends what is intended by the offering. If the organisation intends the person who finds that Bible to use it as they wish; to read or not as they want, and even to take the Bible home if they feel the need to do so, then the vandalism is fine; the Bible is a free gift, and ownership is offered to anyone who wants it, including any passing vandals.

If, however, the Bible is along the lines of the television, towels etc and is there for the use of hotel patrons while they are in the room, but not to be removed when they leave, then Mr McKellan would be best advised keeping his temper under control, and not tearing out any more pages, however personally offensive he might happen to find them.

I think most of us understand the hotel Bible to be the latter; there for the use of hotel patrons, and to be left for other patrons. In which case, although I do not agree with the nonsense in Leviticus, I also do not think it helps anyone to go around commiting what is, in effect, a criminal act, in order to make some kind of protest about it. Mr McKellan has other avenues of protest open to him, and has never been afraid of speaking his mind; let him carry on doing that, and leave the Bibles alone.

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I've done it before, when I was drunk, except I kept the page, and put it in my car on the parcel shelf, underneath a cuddly toy snake. Clever, huh?

I don´t seem to understand how you get from the fact that someone is rebelling against an ideology to the conclusion that he "knows deep in his heart" that this ideology is true.

I suspect that if you´d find "Mein Kampf" on the bedside table of every hotel room there would be plenty of people not only ripping out pages but rebel even more vehemently.
I fail to see how such a rebellion against an ideology someone strongly is opposed to suggests that he "knows deep in his heart" that it is true.
The most self-suggesting conclusion is that he simply disagrees strongly with it.

This is not to say that I find this reaction particularly reasonable. You don´t get rid of stupid or even dangerous ideas by ripping stupid parts out of books.
You don´t convince people that an idea is stupid or dangerous by trying to oppress it. Quite the contrary: you make it particularly interesting and more virulent, you give it weight that it doesn´t deserve, and you are likely to cause persecution fantasies and victim mentality among the followers of the idea.

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Why I call myself a „non-believer“ or „atheist“:
I can´t relate to any of the god concepts I´m familiar with so far.
Either I´m not convinced by the concept, or
– although not having a problem with the worldview itself -
I see no reason to call one of its elements „God“:
There are already more precise, more common, less loaded and less likely to be misunderstood terms for these elements.
E.g. I prefer to call nature „nature“, the universe „universe“ and everything „everything“.

Originally Posted by Ringo84

Well, I don't agree with his actions but I'll defend his right to take those actions.
Ringo

Nobody has the right to cause criminal damage in a hotel room, not even of a book; any book. If it does not belong to you, you do not have the right to tear pages out.

I am not sure why you think that kind of behaviour is something to defend, to be honest. Mr McKellen is entitled to his opinions, but not to act them out in vandalism. All he has to do is to say when he books the room, 'please remove the Bible, as I find some of the content offensive'. If it is still there when he checks in, he can hand it to a member of staff, and ask them to take it away.

I really don't see why he has to resort to some kind of tantrum, rather than a more adult response.

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Aren't Gideon Bibles, the ones generally found in hotel rooms, free for the taking? In which case it would not be criminal damage to a hotel room, it would be damage to one's own property.

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"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day." - Douglas Adams

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" - Douglas Adams

"Skaloopdidit" - Keeping Skaloop as the first cause until science can rule him out.

"I'd be a theist if it weren't for God." - Me