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Agnes Lam

Will Clem

The Bible became a target of indecency complaints yesterday after an anonymous website launched a campaign asking people to put pressure on the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority to reclassify the holy text as an indecent publication.

The Chinese-language website www.truthbible.net said the Bible was full of stories and references to incest, rape, cannibalism and violence in both the Old and New Testaments.

Tela confirmed yesterday it had received 208 complaints, more than double the number of complaints it received over the past week about the Chinese University Student Press, which resulted in two issues being classified by the Obscene Articles Tribunal as indecent  on Monday.

It was not clear how many of the complaints were prompted by the website, which  is highly critical of the Christian scriptures.

The website runs under a bilingual banner in red, stating: 'Legal disclaimer warning: this website contains biblical material, which may offend and may not be distributed, circulated, sold, hired, given, lent, shown, played or projected to a person under the age of 18 years.'

The suggested complaint letter contained on the  site makes specific reference to the student journal's controversial sex survey.

The survey asked readers if they had fantasised about having sex with family members or  saw them  perform sexual acts.  The letter likens it to more explicit sections of the Bible.

'Passages in the Bible not only advocate incest, but they also aim to rationalise incest and present it as normal,' the letter states.

Under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, a publication or a display is exempt from the law if it is deemed to be in the interest of science, literature, art and academic study.

If the complaints were upheld, by law it would mean full texts of the Bible would be deemed suitable to be read only by over-18s, and copies  would need to carry a warning and be sold in sealed packaging.



Is the Bible indecent? HK officials have 208 complaints saying it is