The Bible — be it the King James, the New International, or any of the more than 80 other English versions — is not an easy read. There’s a lot that is difficult, confusing, or just downright boring (lists of who begat whom, anyone?). Is it any wonder that most six-year-old girls are more interested in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty than Matthew and Mark? Well have no fear, theist parents, now there’s a solution to this dilemma!
Andy Holmes, creator of Gerbert the puppet, has created the My Princess Bible, a new board book that “combines princess-like art of women of the Bible with art more reflective of the modern-day princesses” who will read it. Yeah, it’s the Disney Bible. Of course it’s not the complete Bible — we don’t want any nightmares about bears, after all. Instead, it’s a collection of 19 stories about women in the bible, with a 20th story featuring the reader; it “reminds the reader that princesses are daughters of the King and are loved by God.”
I can’t imagine giving this book to a girl. If I were a believer, I don’t think I could support turning the women of the Bible into Disney-esque princesses with incomplete and shallow retellings of their stories. As an atheist, I wouldn’t want to give my daughter a false impression of the Bible’s contents. Still, I suppose some will find this to be exactly what they want for their daughters — a sanitized version of bible stories that teaches the importance of status and appearance for women.
Tags: atheism, bible, books, christianity, disney, princess, religion, theism
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