Banned Book Profile: The Bible

I thought this would be an appropriate banned book for today. It may surprise some, but perhaps not everyone, to know that the Bible has been banned, censured, burned, and generally dissed by different groups and societies over the years. Some because of radical anti-religious feeling, some due to religious belief, others for political reasons. Nevertheless, the Bible qualifies as a banned book as much as any other on the list, so here are the facts:

THE FACTS:

Title: THE BIBLE
Author: N/A
Publisher: Various
First Published: N/A

Where/When/Why Banned or Challenged (sources given):

A few examples from the last century:

• The Bible was removed from numerous libraries and banned from import in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1956. (Banned Books Online)
• A 2000 US government report reported that Burma (also known as Myanmar) bans all Bible translations into local indigenous languages. (Banned Books Online)
• Distributing Bibles, along with other forms of proselytizing by non-Muslims, is banned in Saudi Arabia, according to this State Department report (though the Saudis generally allow western families to bring in their own Bibles, if they do not bring in more copies than expected for personal use). (Banned Books Online)
• Organizers of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing prohibited Bibles in the Olympic village where athletes stayed. (CNA)
• The Bible is banned in North Korea. In 2009, a 33-year-old mother of 3 was publicly executed after being accused of distributing the Bible. (Huffington Post)