Literally. I've read a bit about Ian McKellen's anti-Christian views from press reports of his various movie junkets, but I didn't see it widely reported that he actually rips pages out Gideon hotel room Bibles.
The next time you're hanging out in a hotel room killing time before you drift off to sleep, open the room's complimentary Bible and see if there's something missing.If you find just a frayed stump where Leviticus 18:22 used to be, Ian McKellen may well have laid his head on your overstuffed pillow before you.
"Whenever I stay in a hotel I always check to see if they have a Gideon Bible, and if they do I tear out a page," the veteran actor told New York gossipist Baird Jones at the premiere party for the film "Iris," which stars both Kate Winslet and Judy Dench as the late writer Iris Murdoch. "I turn to Leviticus 18:22 and rip out that page which is directed against homosexuals; it is one of the Leviticus Laws. I don't know if anyone ever even notices, but I really take exception to that section and I think by now I must have ripped out a few hundred pages."
Well, at least he didn't flush it or trash it completely. For those that didn't know, McKellen's gay.
Hmm, somehow I feel better about someone who rips pages out than someone who grossly reinterprets the meaning out of it.
Mr. Diel
Are you outting yourself or just an agent of the thought police?
II: This blog is regulated by the thought police. Didn't you know?
My point was that the physical pages of Bibles are not so sacred as the meaning of the words. In this case, McKellen acknowledges that the content of the text opposes his lifestyle. That's better than pastors who interpret the text such that heterosexual love and homosexual love are on the same plane.
Interesting response Mr. Diel, but I can't agree. Thinking, speaking, and taking action are three different levels of human endeavor and should be controlled respectively not at all, very cautiously, and judiciously. Just my opinion, for what it's worth. I agree with you on queers, but I'd just walk out on those pastors. The bible destroyer should be fined about $100 per page.
II: Given a list of locations, The Gideons can replace Bibles for about $5 each. Not having a list of locations makes it nearly impossible to replace them.
As a fellow "queer", I can't say I agree with Mr. McKellen's approach. I couldn't care less about the Bible and I don't give a damn if anyone approves or disapproves of who I am. The path of least resistance in this case is to just ignore it.