The Bible is the most common book in all of literature. (It is the most printed, most sold, and most translated book in the world.)

The Bible is also rumored to be the most shoplifted book in the world. (Which might seem hard to believe, considering that "Thou shalt not steal" is one of "The ten commandments".)

And based on my experience with picking up litter, I would say that the Bible may also be the most littered book in the world. (Which might seem hard to believe, considering that throwing a "holy book" on the ground is considered "blasphemy" in many faiths.)

Whenever I find a book littered on the ground, I will curiously look to see what book it is, and over the years of doing this, I have still yet to find any other book more than once.

And not only do I find more Bibles on the ground than any other book, but even a lot of the small booklets, leaflets, and pamphlets that I find littered on the ground are "biblical"...






So why are there so many Bibles and Bible-themed pieces of literature littering the streets? Probably because religious people will give them to people who aren't religious in the hopes of converting them, and since not everyone wants these, combined with the fact that not everyone disposes of things that they don't want properly, a lot of them end up as litter on the ground.

But the reason that I wanted to share this observation, is because I would like to encourage everyone (religious or not) to start viewing the act of throwing ANY litter on the ground as "blasphemy".

The dictionary definition of the word "blasphemy" is "The act of expressing disrespect or irreverence towards God or towards something considered sacred."

If you believe in a creator, and you want to show your respect and reverence for the creator, then the last thing you should do is intentionally destroy what they have created.

If a large group of people got together and burned a bunch of "Elton John" albums, it would probably be safe to assume that they aren't "fans" of him or his music.

And if we as a species are trashing the planet, driving the other species into extinction, and even endangering our own lives by poisoning the soil, water, and air that we can't live without, then a God would probably feel that we don't appreciate the gift of life that we have been given any more than a person appreciates the gift of a free Bible if they end up just throwing it on the ground.

A lot of religions teach that life is "sacred", and if that is what you believe, then please keep in mind that ALL life (at least that we know of) lives right here on planet Earth. And therefore, any deliberate act of polluting the Earth (which is the home and sanctuary of all known life) would have to be considered an act of disrespect and irreverence towards something that you consider "sacred".

And if you don't believe in a God, and you believe that we are simply a product of nature, then by destroying nature we are still destroying our "creator".

And even if you are a staunch atheist and you want to laugh whenever you see a religious person standing on a street corner and claiming that if we don't repent we will burn in hell, even a lot of the world's top scientists are putting out a similar message that if we don't stop desecrating the Earth, the Earth's temperature will rise because of it, and we will find ourselves in a much hotter and more "hellish" place!

If we can start having more reverence and respect for the Earth, we may find that "Heaven on Earth" is not only possible, but that it is already here!

You have probably seen some stunning "before" and "after" photos where there will be a picture of a littered beach next to a picture of the same beach after some volunteers took the time to clean it up. And what these photos demonstrate is that a far more beautiful world already exists, but it is difficult to see and appreciate the beauty and miracles around us when they are buried under a zillion pieces of litter.

The reason that I do these clean-up projects isn't because I want to "create" a more beautiful world, it is because I want to help "reveal" a more beautiful world that has already been created.

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