S.B. 2464 and the Bible

Pending in the Senate is S.B. 2464, entitled “Anti-Obscenity and Pornography Act of 2008,” filed on July 24, 2008.

Since our legislators apparently take it seriously, we should see exactly what the bill will prohibit if it passes into law.

Section 3 of the bill defines the word “obscene” as, among other things, “showing, depicting or describing human sexual organs or the female breasts.”

According to Dr. Margarita Holmes, the largest sexual organ in the human body is the skin. The face is part of the skin. Therefore, the bill will prohibit the “showing, depicting or describing” of anybody’s face. Henceforth, no one is allowed to print in any newspaper the face of anyone.

Even private photos will be banned. Since a photograph can be seen by persons other than the one that took it, it can be deemed circulated. Therefore, anyone caught taking a photograph of anybody’s face will suffer, as the bill provides in Section 5, “the penalty of imprisonment of not less than three (3) years nor more than six (6) years and a fine of not less than two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000.00) nor more than five hundred thousand pesos (PP500,000.00).”

While we can live with the thought of all camera or cellphone-toting Filipinos being harassed by government (what else is new?), we have to stand up and defend the One That Needs No Defense.

Since the Bible leads all bestsellers in sales not just in the world but in the Philippines and therefore qualifies as mass media, the government will have to ban the Bible if the bill is passed. Take a look at some passages from the Catholic Edition of the New Revised Standard Version.

Since the bill explicitly defines obscenity as “describing erotic reactions, feelings or experiences of sexual acts,” the following Biblical description of kissing has to be banned: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” (Song of Solomon 1:2).

Worse is this description of oral sex, not to mention incest: “O that you were like a brother to me, who nursed at my mother’s breast! If I met you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of the one who bore me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates. O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!” (Song of Solomon 8:1-3). (Biblical scholars tell us that the spiced wine or juice refers to the fluid that comes out of the woman’s private part.)

My favorite, about to be banned by the bill, is the description of a woman, as poet Alfred Yuson once put it, from the South (or from the feet up): “How graceful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand. Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies. Your two breasts are like fawns, twins of a gazelle. Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, overlooking Damascus. Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple” (Song of Solomon 7:1-5).

Biblical scholars tell us that the word “navel” is a polite way to refer to the female organ, whose juice tastes like wine. The passage clearly falls under what the bill regards as a “violation” of “the proprieties of language and human behavior.”

Instead of harping on condoms, about which there is nothing in the Bible, the CBCP should be worrying about this huge threat to their Maker, who might be served a warrant of arrest for writing such “obscene” material.

“WORDS OF THE DAY” (English/Filipino) for next week’s elementary school classes: Oct. 6 Monday: 1. girl/ngipin, 2. sole (fish)/ngalangala, 3. batfish/ ngakngak, 4. moonfish/ ngabngab, 5. goby/ ngalngal, 6. nationalism/ nguya; Oct. 7 Tuesday: 1. keep/oo, 2. short/paa, 3. soldierfish/pako (nail), 4. threadfin/padpad, 5. flounder/pagakpak, 6. emperor/pagal; Oct. 8 Wednesday: 1. note/pa, 2. shut/pakwan, 3. angelfish/pako (fern), 4. needlefish/pag-asa, 5. damsel/pagaspas, 6. gourami/pagaw; Oct. 9 Thursday: 1. ball/quart, 2. scad/quake, 3. ray/quail, 4. azucena/quack, 5. flathead/qiyas, 6. snapper/qabul; Oct. 10 Friday: 1. bell/queen, 2. bass/question, 3. goatfish/qualify, 4. mangrove/quadrille, 5. hairtail/quadratik, 6. grouper/qasida. The numbers after the dates indicate grade level. The dates refer to the official calendar for public elementary schools. For definitions of the words in Filipino, consult UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino.