Attention, hotels…if you’ve got a “Sir Ian McKellen” on your list of incoming guests, you should probably remove the Bible from the bedside table drawer in his room and read this recent Q&A with Details magazine (quoted on PopEater):
“The openly gay ‘Lord of the Rings’ star admits to a habit of tearing out the Bible passage that condemns homosexuality — (“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” – Leviticus 18:22) — every time he finds one in his hotel room.[...] “I’m not proudly defacing the book,” he asserts, “but it’s a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible.
McKellen says his actions have inspired others to do the same. “I got delivered a package of 40 of those pages that had been torn out by a married couple I know. They put them on a bit of string so that I could hang it up in the bathroom.”
“
McKellen, who remained closeted for much of his career, also speaks candidly of the scars he suffered of having to hide who he was in order to succeed in his chosen field. “Acting was a means to publicly display my emotions in a way that was illegal for me to do as a private person. [...] It was horrible living this secret life. You could feel a little bit what it was like to be a Jew in central Europe during a certain period. It was horrible.”
In the X-Men movies, McKellen played Magneto, whose backstory including discovering his mutation as a Jewish child in a Nazi concentration camp and surviving the Holocaust; although his role is primarily that of villain, Magneto’s actions “are driven by the purpose of protecting the mutant race from suffering a similar fate.”
(Hat tip to Smoking Lizard Soapbox, who penned this “Open Letter to Sir Ian McKellen,” wherein he disagreed with McKellen’s choice, noting, among other points that hotels “provide both Bibles and porn because they don’t get to judge their guests.”)
posted November 12, 2009 at 9:14 pm
He really should rip out the Lev. 20:13 passage too! That one calls for death.
But I just grab the Bible from the hotel and use it as kindling. Feels good to have an old-fashion Christian book burning with their book and iritate the Christians that want to shove their religion down my throat by honestly telling them that the bible isn’t holy, it burns like any other book. Also it’s more money the Giddeon’s have to shell out to make more.
posted November 13, 2009 at 1:04 am
I just want to clairfy that I do what I mention above for therapeutic reasons – it’s a ritual – and you know what they say, “You can take the Catholic out of the ritual but you can’t take the ritual out of the ex-Catholic.” I just want to be non-politically correct (frank) with you.
Oh, and also to Smoking Lizard Soapbox, who penned this “Open Letter to Sir Ian McKellen,” wherein he disagreed with McKellen’s choice, noting, among other points that hotels “provide both Bibles and porn because they don’t get to judge their guests.”):
Why don’t hotels charge for a Bible? I’ve never been charged on my card for it later. They’ll charge you for a towel or porn, but not for shampoo or a Bible. Could it be a question what the hotel values?
Obviously, Sir Ian finds it therapeutic as I do and the hotels don’t seem to care.
posted November 13, 2009 at 10:50 am
This is just about the dumbest thing I’ve read in quite awhile.
Tearing out a section of the Bible that he doesn’t agree with doesn’t make it go away — a sin is still a sin because God says so, period.
The idea that we can pick and choose which pieces and parts of the Bible we decide to live with is, well, dumb.
posted November 15, 2009 at 2:25 pm
We cannot pick and choose what scripture we choose to accept. Every part of the Scripture is God-breatherd and useful one way or another – showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.
posted November 16, 2009 at 1:04 am
Ian McKellan, I feel sorry for you. Its unfortunate that you can’t accept the truth, even if you don’t agree with it. Where do you think you’re going after this life? Hell is forever. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Hotels do their guests a wonderful service by providing Bibles. Would you want someone destroying YOUR property? The Bibles belong to the hotel for the guests enjoyment, not for some looney to tear it up.
posted November 16, 2009 at 4:39 am
Hotel bibles should be left unopened in the drawer. There are a million books that annoy or offend me, but I wouldn’t waste the energy to deface them. Like everything else in the hotel room, it’s hotel property. Truth is a different thing to different people. Like many homosexuals, Mr. McKellan has been abused by the fine “christians” who think the bible is the work of G-d. All primitive people have assumed that their holy books were of G-d. The Koran, Upanishads, the Bible and Book of Mormon are amonng these. How many know how many of the stories told in these books overlap each other. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead Horus was born of a virgin, martyred by his own people and ascended into heaven, sound familiar? These volumes contain ideas to guide the societies that produced them. Unfortunately, these allegorical tales and myths are used as an excuse to abuse people who are different and provide reasons for that obuse to “true believers”. Even though Leviticus calls for a system similar to Socialism, American’s insist that the Lord wants them to be Capitalist and live in abundance. If one if poor, it is due to lack of faith. There is no mention in the bible that greed (a requisite for Capitalism) is good – in fact Jesus himself warns against it. When religeon causes people to hurt others and damage the world that supports the human race, it has probably outlived it’s usefulness.
posted November 17, 2009 at 11:35 am
“Heaven and Earth SHALL Pass Away…But MY Words Shall NEVER Pass Away!” (Jesus Christ). Soddom & Ghomarrah is a Manifestation of What GOD Thinks of Homosexuality! HETEROPHOBES get Upset at Hearing that Their Lifestyle Makes God PUKE! There is ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES with Living in Sin! Ian McKellen Can Turn The Bible into a Complete SALAD, and it will NEVER Erase God’s Word, Nor Make It Go Away! If That Rediculous Behavior catches on, and 1,000,000,000 People Copy This Moronic Behavior…It Won’t Matter to The Lord, Because on JUDGEMENT DAY…Unrepented Sin Will Be PUNISHED in a Place of UNIMAGINABLE HORROR, for EVER & EVER & EVER & EVER & THEN SOME, For ALL ETERNITY! So….Whoopdydoo for Whoever Finds This Funny! Have Fun in Front of God’s Throne, Chuckles!
posted November 20, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Good going, Sir Ian! Bibles are a piece of s@#!t read by primitive people. It’s an abomination that in a country like the USA they put bibles in hotels. It offends me as it is discriminatory. Hopefully the legislators are going to look into this issue soon.
posted March 25, 2010 at 7:28 pm
The bibles in hotels are provided by evangelists, the hotels do not pay for them.
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