In the last few days, a school board in Tennessee removed an award-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust (Maus by Art Spiegelman) from its curriculum. In Texas, several schools have removed books from libraries that cover LGBTQ issues and Critical Race Theory.
Related: Meghan McCain slams “bizarre, incoherent” Whoopi Goldberg over Holocaust comments
As more school across the US discuss the banning of books, two internet pranksters have probed the beliefs of some of those in Texas.
Comedy duo Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler are known online as The Good Liars. A video they shared on TikTok and Twitter finds them asking people in Houston about a certain book.
They inform them it contains a story about two daughters who get their father drunk in order to have sex with him and become pregnant.
Those interviewed are disgusted and immediately respond that such a book has no place in any school library.
“Why do kids need to read that?” asks one man wearing a MAGA hat.
The only problem is that the book in question is the Bible. The story reference comes from Genesis 19:30-38. It’s about Lot and his two daughters, who live in a cave together.
As “there is no man around here to give us children”, the older sister decides they have no option but to sleep with their elderly father. Lot eventually has two sons, Moab and Ben-Ammi, with his two daughters.
There’s a lot of talk about banning books in schools, but we were surprised these republicans wanted to ban the Bible. pic.twitter.com/gq4b89x2PO
— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) February 1, 2022
On learning it’s the Bible, one of the women interviewed laughs, shakes her head, and says, “No, no, no”, perhaps realizing she’s been duped.
Selvig and Stiefler told Newsweek: “We saw stories of books being banned in public schools as a result of cherry-picking certain passages that could be deemed offensive. The Bible has some pretty messed up stuff in it.
“We wondered what conservatives would say if they heard stories without the context of the rest of the book. Would they want the Bible banned from school libraries?”
“Something similar is happening in Texas and Arizona where parents have asked to remove books from libraries because of certain passages that were taken out of context,” they added.
“In the same way, the Bible is not a book about daughters getting their fathers drunk and having sex with them. The context matters.”
Related: Former priest explains why the Bible does NOT condemn same-sex unions
On TikTok, the video has had over 800,000 likes and prompted thousands of comments.
“The blind eye they practice is incredible,” said one responder.
“It’s amazing they don’t read the bible!!!” said another: a sentiment echoed by many.
Mister P
That’s hilarious. In Texas they worry about books but guns are available to any idiot who wants one.
Brian
The Bible also supports slavery. (But different from the form in America in the 1600s-1800s, in which children of slaves were automatically slaves too.)
The Bible supports racism, classism, monarchies, dispelling orphans to the streets, kidnappings, slavery, rape, violence, war…. The world was harsh 2,000+ years ago.
masteradrian031
What’s wrong with supporting monarchies?
Most if not all present day monarchies are symbolic, the King or Queen is Head of State, and the governnents (in fact the secretaries of the King/Queen) are doing the work…….
Covid Hermit
I personally always love how the Bible thumpers get the REAL story of Sodom & Gomorrah wrong. These cities were (supposedly) destroyed because they were inhospitable to guests. Homosexuality had NOTHING to do with it! But that doesn’t stop these “experts” from saying that it did!
Cam
Republicans use the same old lie. They want to ban certain books because of racy content or dirty words, but those are just covers. They want to ban any book that humanizes Black people, LGBTQ people, talks about women’s rights, etc… They could care less about “Dirty words” if they did, then they wouldn’t have voted for Trump after his “Grab em by the Pu**y” comments.
GrizzleyMichael
Why not ban Republicans
JohnnyBoy2
I’m an atheist, and I immediately knew that was the story of Lot.
This reminds me of the politician that demanded that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all schools. Then, the reporter asked him to recite the Ten Commandments. He got that “deer in the headlights” look. He could only come up with two; don’t murder or steal.
daytripper
Nice work. would you know who this chucklehead is?
Essie
I remember that. I want to say it was a politician from Mississippi or Alabama but I can’t remember his name. And I think eventually a stone with the Commandments was placed outside the Courthouse in whichever city that was.
These people don’t really read the Bible, they just parrot what is told to them by a minister, even if that minister is unqualified (which, most of them are). I’m not surprised these fools didn’t recognize the story of Lot and his daughters. It’s typical.
Heywood Jablowme
That was probably Roy Moore, the former Chief Justice of Alabama. He ran for US Senate in 2017 with Trump’s support, to replace Jeff Sessions (Trump’s original AG), but he was the one who had “dated” underage girls at the mall, etc. which caused him to lose to a Democrat – hard to do in Alabama!
missvamp
none of them have actually read the bible. it’s a vile, horrible book. it’s full of rape, murder, incest, beastiality, violence against women & children, misogyny. god kills his own son, casts out lucifer for asking a question. he’s a malignant narcissist with rage issues.
Jaquelope
You might see Him that way, but in many ways, it is a historical text that shows us everything, warts and all. It wasn’t because Lucifer asked him a question, Lucifer wanted to take over, and turned a third of the angels against Him (in fact, led an insurrection) and lost.
If He is so full of rage, then why is it He isn’t more visible doing His smiting, as He was known to often do in the Old Testament? If He did, there would be fewer lying Mega-Preachers around, or even rabid atheists.
KyleMichelSullivan
If any book should be banned (and I despise censorship) then it should be the Bible. I’ve read it from cover to cover, and it supports rape, incest, genocide, murder, slavery, capitalism (for the rich, not those who work for them), misogyny and intolerance of others. For a book supposedly written in support of Jesus, it ignores his teachings as much as it can.
Bosch
Huh! The trolls are awfully quiet under this story…
Fname Optional Lname
Most Christians, MAGA’s and die hard Fox viewers who feel books should be banned, critical race theory should be put six feet under and LGBTQ issues/people should only identify that way in the privacy of their bedroom simply don’t like having their hatred acknowledged. They refuse to feel guilty about the ugly parts of their existence. Most bigots and racists won’t own up to it. Guilt is powerful and they have been told by the church or Trump or Fox for so long that they are superior. The good thing is the minorities of the world are woke, educated and know silence equals death. We will not go away and will never allow anyone to declare superiority.
BaltoSteve
Context does matter. The most vocal of the Faux “Christians” fail to realize what they are quoting doesn’t matter. When Jesus died on the cross and his blood not only washed away the sins of his followers, it also washed away the old covenant… aka the Old Testament. When he died and said, “It is done,’ he was saying that all of those old rules are no longer in effect and that to get into heaven you have follow his teachings not what came before. In the event there is a heaven and a hell, may of those Christians are going to need asbestos underwear.