Why do Christians steal or destroy the writings of H.P.Lovecraft?

Question

Having done a paper on the phenomena several years ago, I thought I would bring this to the community of Yahoo Answers. Here are a few facts. Lovecrafts books are constantly being razored and deposited into Library trash cans, Checked out and never returned (sometimes even paid for by a siingle person again and again,) or just disappear from the shelves. When caught some people proudly say they are doing God's work. Others just begin screaming Bible verses at the Librarian.
Before someone asks.....it can take a Library up to 4 months to get a book replaced, they can't just go out and buy a new copy, all books being added to collections must be approved by some kind of committee. Therefore even those who pay for their theft keep the books of Lovecraft off the shelves.
I must say that this practice is much more prevalent in the so-called "Bible Belt" of the U.S.A.

Out of curiosity, call or go to a library and ask or check their catalog. If they have Lovecraft's Books available or they're listed and missing, you don't have to tell me-unless you want to.

H.P. Lovecraft is well enough known in the world of literature to be included in most dictionaries that carry biographical entries. Therefore, he is not an unknown writer to any who read literature.

Firefly, Thank you. The Best of H.P. Lovecraft is usually the one that goes first and most. I've developed the theory that it is because his name is in the title of this anthology.

Answer 1

Hmm....Missing:
-"The best of H.P. Lovecraft : bloodcurdling tales of horror and the macabre" from the Arlington library,
-"Tales" from the Brookline library,
-"Eternal Lovecraft : the persistence of HPL in popular culture" from Cambridge,
-"The horror in the museum and other revisions" from Framingham,
-"At the mountains of madness : and other tales of terror" from Framingham State College.

All the others I've seen are available, 18 were out, 3 were lost and paid, 1 was in transit, and 4 were on hold...
I didn't look through them all.

Answer 2

I live in a town that could very well be called the "buckle "of the bible belt, altho we are not within its traditional territory. My town used to be listed in the Guinness Records book for the most churches per square mile and per capita - 18 in a town less than an eighth mile wide and less than a mile and a half long. Our local mall-based Waldenbooks used to suffer from just this very thing, and also from the scourge of leaflets and tracts left lying in key places. It got so bad they had to reconfigure the shelves so fantasy/sci-fi was beside the check-out and back in the corner in a cul-de-sac, so you were under constant surveillance while in that section and there was only one way out - past the checkout. They would jam tracts into books by Lovecraft, Heinlein, Rice, etc. not to mention any Dungeons and Dragons book they could lay their hands on.
The local library had to do much the same, but of course couldn't make a patron return a book, but they did (in the case of adults) require a copy of a valid identification after the first offense even if the book was paid for. Thereafter they could enter the person on a internet-based watchlist with other libraries and could revoke library privileges after the third missing book. I would guess there are quite a few Reverends, Padres, Fathers, and plain old Preachers in my area that are still on library suspension. Waldens went even further, and used the tracts to track down the church and responsible parties and charged them with littering, solicitation, and unlawful distribution of goods while on private property.

Answer 3

I'm a christian and I have no idea who H.P Lovecroft is? I never heard of that writer. Is he a fiction writer or fantasy writer? I love fantasy regardless of what other christians say about it especially Harry Potter.

Answer 4

Never heard of the guy, so I couldn't have possibly done so.

For all you know, the few people who are "caught" doing that are probably just a couple of nutballs. The Christian population is NOT as hateful as you'd like to think it is.

Answer 5

Why did atheist take prayer out of the schools?

Answer 6

It's because censorship and denial of freedom are at the heart of fundamentalist ideology.

Atheism. You know it makes sense.