Lawmaker's Wife Replacing Little Library Books With Bibles

[riversedge]

Source: crooksandliars.com





Because no one actually owns a Bible in Arkansas?

By Susie Madrak — August 8, 2023

Jennifer Meeks, the wife of an Arkansas GOP lawmaker, has made herself the unofficial censor of her neighbors' Little Free Libraries. She posted on Facebook recently about her efforts to remove "terrible books" and replace them with Bibles. Via Raw Story:

"I have been swapping out books in little free libraries for awhile," she wrote in a Facebook post earlier this month. "I have seen good books, terrible books... Recently I have been picking up free Bibles at flea markets and thrift stores. Sometimes I find good devotion books or kids’ Bible stories at a good price to add. Or just great books, and a gospel tract is a nice idea too.”

Meeks said she was inspired to do this after seeing a lot of LGBTQ Pride-themed books in the libraries.

"From what I have seen a lot of these books and other things don’t align with Christian values," she wrote. "Today, I saw a bunch of Pride stuff in one. There’s a group of leftists, especially in Conway, who are very active in keeping little libraries well stocked."
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The Faulkner County Coalition for Social Justice said that her efforts would not stop people in the area from stocking libraries with quality reading material.

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Read more: https://crooksandliars.com/2023/08/politicos-wife-replacing-little-library

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The article does not say what she does with the books --those non-christian books she removes.




CALL TO ACTIVISM
@CalltoActivism
🚨BREAKING: A GOP lawmaker's wife says she's been replacing “terrible” “Unchristian” books with Bibles in local Little Free Libraries in Arkansas.

Jennifer Meeks, wife of Arkansas State GOP Rep. Stephen Meeks, thinks people shouldn't read books that "don't align with our Christian values." So she drives around towns in her area, removing frowned-upon books from Little Free Library Kiosks and replacing them with Bibles.

"I have been swapping out books in little free libraries for awhile," she wrote in a Facebook post earlier this month.

"I have seen good books, terrible books... Recently I have been picking up free Bibles at flea markets and thrift stores…

…Sometimes I find good devotion books or kids’ Bible stories at a good price to add. Or just great books, and a gospel tract is a nice idea too.”

Meeks said she was inspired to do this after seeing a lot of LGBTQ Pride-themed books in the libraries.

"From what I have seen a lot of these books and other things don’t align with Christian values," she wrote.

"Today, I saw a bunch of Pride stuff in one. There’s a group of leftists, especially in Conway, who are very active in keeping little libraries well stocked."

Given the fact that Meeks is married to a lawmaker, this is dangerously close to government censorship.

Also, while you can’t technically steal from a “free” library, this is amazingly unethical.

Maybe instead of planting Bibles, she should try reading one.

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[Ray Bruns]

1. Did it ever occur to her why there were many bibles in flea markets or thrift stores because no one

was reading them anyway.

[Jirel]

2. Exactly.

That, and too many people who had the garbage thrust on them are allergic to burning them, even if it's the right thing to do.

[ancianita]

16. Not to mention that bibles aren't readable for adults, nevermind kids! Proof is all the adult bible

study groups that exist. Yeah, she's stealing children's books.

Since it's Arkansas, she'll probably get away with it.

[Grins]

32. Bwahahahaha! Yes!

“Proof is all the adult bible study groups…”

All these adults, all across the country, get together on a regular basis to try and find out, “What the fuck does this shit even mean…?”

And never question why that is. Why that Bronze Age book is so indecipherable and contradictory that “study groups” have to be formed to find out. (Actually, confirm their own personal interpretations.)

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

35. It's really weird how many study groups exist

And yet so few of them seem to have read the thing.

From how assorted fundies have described the happenings in these groups, they're not really study groups but sort of a semi-interactive sermon. A minister or deacon or elder (or whatever) leads the group, picks a bit of the book (anywhere from a few verses to an entire chapter) to read before the next meeting, and then everyone shows up to talk about it. But mostly, they ask questions of the leader about how to interpret it in fine detail, and he does that for them. They can sorta debate what they read, but, ultimately, the church leader has the final say about how to interpret it. When time's up, he tells them what to read next.

Some of the groups are somewhat organized around a theme (evils of alcohol is always a winner), while others are all over the place with what they study--Judges this week, Acts the next, Thessalonians after that, and maybe some good old fashioned Genesis to wrap up the month. Some of them were so random that it sounded like the minister would get a wild hair about what he wanted to pontificate about on his way to the meeting, and everyone went along with it like good little sheep.

But very few of them decided, "It's 1 January. We're starting with Genesis 1, and we'll go through all of the rest from there without stopping." It was always bounce here, bounce there, get told what it means.

Maybe it's different with mainstream groups, but that's how all of the evilgelicals and fundies I've known about do it.

[Bayard]

3. So, basically, she's stealing books

Lock her up!

[kysrsoze]

15. Thou shalt not steal?

[LisaM]

4. That's really terrible.

I have a friend who has a Free Little Library and she has a terrible time keeping people from stocking it with Bibles (often in plastic wrap).

These people don't seem to understand the point.

[raising2moredems]

34. If some person(s) did that to me...

I'd burn them then put the ashes next to the Little Free Library with a sign that said "free fertilizer - bible ashes but please check your soil Ph prior to using as fertilizer".

[walkingman]

5. These kind of people scare the hell of of me. Stay the fuck away from me.

[CrispyQ]

6. I'd post a warning sign that every night, any Bible left will be thrown in the trash can.

So sick of these types of people who can't just keep their damned religion to themselves.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

36. Really tick her off

And say you'll throw it in the recycling bin!

[smb]

7. One Solution

Add bookmarks and highlighter to the Bibles pointing people at choice passages like the "hung like donkeys" thing in Ezekiel 23:20.

[OMGWTF]

8. From what I've seen, this cvnt does not align with Christian values.

[Attilatheblond]

9. If she did that to me, I'd seek a restraining order

And post a sign to that effect,

[Kali]

18. let's not

fucking asshole or something more creative is fine.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

37. Of course it's the christian thing to do

The only people in the US who do this are christians. If you think otherwise, then name the atheists, Sikhs, Buddhists, Wiccans or Jews who are doing it.

I'll wait.

The rest of us can do the maths saying that if christians are the ones doing something all of the time, then, yes, it's a christian thing to do.

That's sort of how it works.

[Oopsie Daisy]

10. Those crazy-eyes, that shit-eating grin ... I'm not surprised.

She definitely looks-the-type to be pulling stunts like this.

[twodogsbarking]

11. If she doesn't get her way she will burn down the library.

Where is her MAGA hat.

[Marthe48]

12. Oh goodie she gets 5 minutes of tv time

and an orgasm

[FakeNoose]

13. Wow ... how bizarre! How un-Christian

This needs to be stopped.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

38. How is it 'unchristian?'

When have "unchristian" people ever done this?

Because you're essentially saying that a christian couldn't have done this, so she has to be someone who isn't christian. That's why you need to name what religion (or lack of it) she practices. Burden of proof is on you. So come on--name the atheists, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Wiccans & etc doing it. I'll bloody well wait for you to come up with more than ten examples of anyone *other* than christians doing it.

While I'm waiting, I can name far more than ten christians doing this sort of thing--without bringing Nazi Germany into the discussion (even though, yes, that was christians destroying books, too). I could be here all day listing all of the christian book-haters right here in the US of A. When do you want me to start?

Or, better yet, how about I explore that time when christians used to burn *people* for their ideas? And that, too, is one bloody long list that could take a while to get through.

Maybe if you'd stop pretending that christians can't be bad people (LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL), then maybe you could face this one bloody obvious reality:

If christians are always the ones doing something, especially in the name of their religion, then, yes, it is an entirely christian thing to do. QE Bloody F'n D. So stop blaming 'unchristian' people for the terrible things that christians themselves do. We 'unchristian people' aren't putting up with that bigoted dishonesty anymore.

[PatrickforB]

14. This thief doesn't seem to have much understanding of Christian values.

When Jesus was asked the greatest commandment, the word LOVE was the first thing out of his mouth -

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, might and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.

He goes on to give us all some pretty good ground rules about how to live in the Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon on the Plain and the parables. I don't read much about Jesus hating gays or anyone else. Bottom line, he wanted us to work on ourselves - to take the proverbial BEAM out of our own eye before presuming to take the mote out of our neighbor's. And then there's that bit about 'Judge not that ye be not judged...'

I guess this woman's pastor must be a little 'out there.'

And not in a good way. Way too much HATE on the part of these right-wing evangelicals. For years, I have felt they may actually be serving the other guy instead of God. Jesus did talk about trees being know by their fruit, and it seems like the fruit these right wing nut jobs are dropping is full of maggots.

But then, here in 'Murika we definitely do not worship God anymore. We worship the bronze bull idol that mysteriously appeared on Wall Street on a cold December night in 1989. Do you know people come from all over the world, line up in front of that idol and rub its testicles for good luck? I almost hurled when I learned about that.

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

30. Do ANY of these so called christians have "christian values" ?????

[Marcuse]

17. When this happens libraries receive massive donations of books similar to the stolen ones.

[Torchlight]

19. Sinning For Jesus

Odd how so many of us will justify our own darkness simply by redefining what light is.

[Kali]

20. maybe she should try READING one of those bibles she is planting

what an asshole

[turbinetree]

21. Maybe she should change her last name to Goebbels......just a thought

fucking hypocrite.....

[Timeflyer]

22. Book burner will replace your choice with hers. I'm with the banned.

[twodogsbarking]

23. So many people participate and make something good for others and some asshole comes along,

named Jennifer Meeks.

[keithbvadu2]

24. Replacing the old books with her own dirty book, the Bible.

[slightlv]

25. And I'll bet she's the first one to burn a Koran!

I can't stand xtianists like this, and yet we're surrounded by them. There is absolutely no difference between them and the Islamists who blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas, IMO. Western Churches, especially the Fundamentalists, are dropping membership numbers every year by the thousands, and they have the gall to wonder why. They're no longer teaching the spiritual; they're too busy teaching the worldly power tripping. They don't teach Christ; they teach the Anti-Christ. And the preachers are either in it so deep they can no longer see it, or they've just flat out sold their soul to the devil named *rump for the power he gave them. Christ's first and only commandment was Love. This woman, and all those who like her follow trump, worship only one commandment - hate. And yet, they have the audacity to justify it by saying everything and anything they do is okay (no matter how evil it actually is) as long as it's done in god's name and in his glory. Methinks they may have a surprise coming if they ever meet a higher power than themselves. She may tell them a thing or two to disavow them of that idea!

[Orrex]

26. I've never seen a Little Library box that wasn't 90% bibles or Xtian propaganda

[Oneironaut]

27. Another good, obedient Christian wife who is in the sunken place.

I bet she sees her husband as her leader, while he goes around cheating on her left and right. Just like the little puppy Christianity instructed her to be.

[tanyev]

28. So she'd be totally fine with someone taking all the religious books she left

and dropping them in the nearest recycling bin?

[area51]

29. She sounds like a follower of

Supply-side Jesus.

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

31. Just an idea . . .

Put one of those "trail cams" near the little libraries and catch her in the act. Then find a lawyer willing to do a little feel-good pro-bono action on the thief and sue her for coming onto private property and proselyting. (From personal observation: If you put up a sign that specifically bans that on your property, you have a case !)

[AverageOldGuy]

33. From time to time . . .

. . . I read about something that is so blazingly stupid, all I can do is bang my head into the desk.

And now I have a splitting headache.

[ShazzieB]

39. This is incrediby offensive!

Jennifer Meeks, wife of Arkansas State GOP Rep. Stephen Meeks, thinks people shouldn't read books that "don't align with our Christian values."

Who in the freaking hell gave this pinhead the authority to dictate what other people get to read? The unmitigated gall of this woman!

[XorXor]

40. I wonder if she is really doing it, or just seeking praise/attention online

She also claims she found needles in them. As if that's some "leftist" plot. It makes zero sense. While I wouldn't be surprised if she is doing the swaps, I also wouldn't be surprised if this entire thing wasn't just some fantasy she made up in her head.

[Martin68]

41. I had to laugh, picturing in my mind a library where ALL the shelves cary only one book: the Bible.

I picture little bibles, big bibles, multi-volume bibles, red bibles, black bibles, paperback bibles (remember the Good News version?), bibles, bibles and more bibles. But, really, what this woman is doing is unconscionable. Taking the community's donations and replacing them with multiple copies her favorite book is totally mentally deranged. Not guaranteed to win friends and influence people.