The book ban proposal, SB81, is hypocritical because the Bible’s content could also be considered obscene. 

SB81, proposed by Senator Dan Sullivan, is “to amend the law concerning libraries and obscene materials.” 

Obscene means“offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency,” according to the Oxford Dictionary.

Now, that definition varies from person to person. 

This legislation by Sullivan says that any book that is sexual in any way, shape or form is considered obscene. 

This could include material that mentions LGBTQ topics and anything with explicit content. Sexual content is already banned for minors, so this bill only creates more unnecessary restrictions.

Supporters of the bill don’t want their kids reading about sex, but the Bible has many instances of sex in it, including in kids’ versions of it. In the New International Version Genesis 38:2 says, “There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her,” or the Evangelical Heritage Version that says, “There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her.” That is the same verse but from two versions of the Bible commonly used in the churches that many government lawmakers go to.

Some also say they don’t want their kids reading about violence, but violence is rampant in the Bible. For Instance, in Isaiah 13:16 from the Evangelical Heritage Bible, “Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be looted, and their wives will be raped.”

Going back to the obscene point — again, it varies from person to person. A set of people shouldn’t get to choose what everyone can read.

If you don’t want your child to read stuff like that, then pay attention to what they pick out. 

Not everyone has the same mindset on certain topics, and that needs to be taken into account. Just because it’s a topic that is against your religion doesn’t give you the right to dictate what everyone else gets to read or not read. 

The separation of church and state is there for a reason. 

Not everyone in this state or even in this country is Christian, so making rules because one’s religion is against something is not right. 

It would be like if the state, which was mostly Jewish and had a Jewish legislature, banned the sale of pork because it isn’t kosher.

People would be pretty mad if they weren’t Jewish but were forced to comply. This is the same situation. 

This law is ridiculous; if parents want to take control of what their kids read, then they should pay more attention to them instead of giving them iPads. 

The government needs to stop making a problem out of something that isn’t a problem to begin with.