| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Many christians, for instance, believe that the Bible is literally the word of God. Regardless of whether this is true (or can be true) or not, many Bible publishers claim copyrights on their Bible books.
The founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith, claimed that an age old Book of Mormon contains the religious and secular history of ancient civilizations in America.
In 1991 the Urantia Foundation sued Kristen Maaherra for copying the Urantia Book. According to the foundation, this work was dictated by space aliens in the form of an interview to its members.
In the end, Maaherra lost the case, on the argument that the members of the church had given an original direction to the work by selecting and formulating their questions. By giving this strange twist to the judgment, the judge avoided having to rule on the existence of the space aliens, but may also have damaged the respect for the secular law as felt by Americans.
In the United Kingdom, the Bible is covered by a crown copyright. See also King James Bible.
Copyright law can clash with the evangelization work of a church. Probably the best known instance of this is the case of the secret religious writings of the Church of Scientology. Since late 1994, Scientology has used various legal tactics to stop the distribution of these documents written by its founder, L. Ron HubbardLafayette Ronald Hubbard ( March 13, 1911 January 24, 1986), better known as L. Ron Hubbard was a prolific and controversial American writer of fiction in all genres, science fiction, religious works, technical, educational and management texts, and misce. The church claims these documents may be only be read by followers who have reached a state of so-called 'clear', although critics hint that the enormous sums of money followers must pay to be able to read these documents could provide an other reason as to why the church is so secretive.
The basic right of freedom of religionFreedom of worship Freedom of religion is the individual's right or freedom to hold whatever religious beliefs he or she wishes, or none at all. This freedom extends mere freedom of thought by adding the freedom of worship and the freedom of religious con may clash with copyright.
The original text of ancient books, such as the Bible, will of course predate any copyright laws. However, translations of that text may be recent enough to fall under copyright law, and commentary or cross-notes added to the text may be copyrighted. Of course that copyright will belong to the person, persons, or organization that translated or added material to the the text, not God (or any particular god or gods from a pantheon).
Even so, the copyrighted material may very well be needed for thoughtful commentary or criticism.