Sherlock Holmes Book A Study in Scarlet Banned For “Anti-Mormon” Sentiment

The title of the Mormon church is mistated. It is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Also, I’m sure the LDS church cares even less about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s portrayal of the Danites than anyone involved in this book banning. Hopefully, it will have the effect of getting even more people interested in reading Sherlock Holmes. 

Honestly, A Study in Scarlet is not the Sherlock Holmes book I’d give to 6th graders anyways. It’s really long and Holmes is in a relatively small portion of it. I’d stop short of taking it out of libraries, but it’s definitely pretty offensive to modern-day Mormons, though in fairness, it is a pretty accurate depiction of the abuse and control of women in polygamous communities.

Thanks for pointing out the LDS error; forgot to double-check that, but I’ll definitely go in and fix that. 

Stupid stupid stupid. It’s fiction.  I really don’t think anyone’s going to cite a Sherlock Holmes novel in an argument about how the Moron church is abusive to women or occultist (I’m not saying they are that’s what the novel implies). 

Cripes wait till they read the crazy racism in “A Sign of Four”….Anyone remember the pygmy dude? He got some awkward descriptions…

Before the world does a backflip at the horrors of censorship, take a moment to consider that the book is both a:) extremely racists, giving the evil Mormon church actual SUPERHUMAN powers in order to conduct their campaign of kiddy-rape, and b:) an absolutely terrible mystery. As the first Sherlock Holmes book goes Doyle had not figured it out yet. If you want to study the mystery genre, this aint the book to use.

Before the world does a backflip at the horrors of censorship, take a moment to consider that the book is both a:) extremely racists, giving the evil Mormon church actual SUPERHUMAN powers in order to conduct their campaign of kiddy-rape, and b:) an absolutely terrible mystery. As the first Sherlock Holmes book goes Doyle had not figured it out yet. If you want to study the mystery genre, this aint the book to use.

Ok, didn’t we learn anything from the last book banning article? The best books are banned. It’s a compliment! The only thing we really should be sad about is that A Study in Scarlett’s movie adaptation isn’t available on Netflix instant so I can’t watch at work.. I mean.. on the bus.

By the way, Alanna, I think we have the same taste in everything. Wait… I think most of the articles I’ve commented on are about Sherlock Holmes. Either way – how amazing is Sherlock Holmes?

Seems like the reading list at this school…

*puts on sunglasses*

…is elementary.

YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

Also, here’s this thing: http://tytempletonart.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/websized.jpg

Considering that Mormons aren’t offended by their own holy text which, among other things, claims that gays are sinners, women are inferior and dark-skinned people are descended from a race of pure evil humans, I’m surprised they don’t have thick enough skin to brush a silly Sherlock Holmes book off.

Was that intolerant? Sorry.

As a Mormon, I find the errors in “Scarlet” to be so hilarious because they’re so far off the mark. Certainly, the anti-Mormon imagery doesn’t keep me from reading, and loving, the Holmes stories. 

I’d rather hope that people would go to the source or do some research than trust a fiction book about a race, religion, or whatever it is representing! Even science and history, for that matter.

As for “intolerance,” I always think it’s best to consult the source instead of making assumptions. I do not believe that all gays are sinners, that women are inferior, and dark-skinned people are descended from a race of pure evil humans. And I also believe that these beliefs are fully in line with my “holy text” and the teachings of my church.

I’m tired of people thinking that removing an item from the curriculum is the same thing as book banning or censorship. In a single year, an English teacher can cover maybe 10 books (at most). That means that of all the available books, 10 really good ones should be chosen. If somebody has a problem with a book and doesn’t think it should be part of the curriculum, or thinks that something else should be taught, that’s a legitimate issue and not ‘censorship.’ Censorship would be asking that it be stripped from the *library* so that kids don’t have access to it. I would be willing to bet that A Study in Scarlet is still available in the school library. 

FWIW, I totally agree with them on this one.  I love Sherlock Holmes, but if I were going to suggest that a kid read one Sherlock Holmes novel, it would never be A Study in Scarlet. Even aside from the nasty portrayals of Mormons, it’s more of a lurid drama than a mystery. 

“As a Mormon… I’d rather hope that people would go to the source or do some research than trust a fiction book about a race, religion, or whatever it is representing! Even science and history, for that matter.”

As an atheist, I find this absolutely hysterical.

Mitt Romney is more offensive to the image of Mormons than this story ever could be.

Yeah, I don’t think I’d get up in arms over this. Banning books and not assigning them in school are very different things. A negligible proportion of all books in existence are assigned in school curricula anyway; you could say that for a book, not being banned is a right but being assigned at school is a privilege (… or not, if you think that being assigned in school is the best way to get hated on by kids).

You could also see it as when a book is assigned in school, it’s being implicitly endorsed to a small extent by the school. So there’s an added pressure not to assign books that are exclusionary for no good reason.

And not assigning “A study in scarlet” is hardly keeping children away from Sherlock Holmes. In fact I’d assume that if we want to introduce children to the mystery genre and Sherlock Holmes in particular it’s better to give them his best or most famous stories, not the one where he first appears. Someone who decides for themselves to discover Sherlock Holmes might want to start at the beginning, but when you’re trying to convince people to read a series that they don’t know and have no reason to assume they’d like it’s usually better to start them off with the best examples in the series instead of the first. Which usually isn’t the best anyway.

It’s not like I’m for totally sanitizing school curricula – for example I felt differently about editing Huckleberry Finn to take out the n-word – but the treatment of race in “Hucklberry Finn” are what I’d put under “for good reason”. “A Study in Scarlet”‘s treatment of Mormonism, in a book that they’re assigning to learn about the mystery genre, is much more pointless.

I’m with you on this one.  Did they “ban” the book?  Or simply remove it from the curriculum?

My high school removed “The Scarlet Letter” from the curriculum.  Not because it was racey, but because no one liked the course so the English department restructured it.

Exactly this. The book was deemed inappropriate for 6th graders but older students would still be able to access and read it. It was not banned from the school, removed from the library or burned in a fire. Also, the title is being replaced with ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ so the kids will still get to study Sherlock Homes.

I agree with what you said here. This article makes it sound like they have banned all Sherlock Holmes / Arthur Conan Doyle’s works from the school when that is not the case at all. The school board deemed ‘Study’ inappropriate for 6th graders, thus removing it from the required reading for that grade level but it would be available for older students. It has been suggested that they replace the required “introduction to the mystery genre” reading with something less detracting like ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’.

I’m not saying that there haven’t been some appalling bad decisions made in regards to completely banning books from schools. I only wanted to point out that in this particular instance the way the information was presented by The Mary Sue ( and various other sites) is inaccurate.

Library media specialist, here. Curriculum removal can indeed be censorship, but it’s not the same as book banning. Furthermore, books are removed from curriculum all the time to make space for other books. We simply can’t teach every wonderful novel out there, and some books don’t serve the needed purpose as well as others. Outdated nonfiction history/science books come to mind. Another poster commented that Holmes made only a small appearance in the book and is not the best example of Doyle’s work. That would be reason enough for me to find an alternative material to use with my students. That said, I’d have a fit if powers that be tried to remove the book from my shelves.

I have consulted the source. Have you not read about the Lamanites?

I have read about the Lamanites. Some of the most righteous people in the Book of Mormon were Lamanites, such as those who eventually came to call themselves Ammonites after the man who converted them. Another example is the prophet known as Samuel the Lamanite. Surely, then, all these Lamanites are not “purely evil,” since so many chose a “righteous” life, as defined by this very same religious text. In point of fact, the “delightsome” Nephites became so wicked that they were destroyed entirely. 

Look, I don’t want to argue over religion. That’s not why I’m on themarysue.com. I’m here for the sense of community I see here, and the great geeky stories that also fit into a more feminine niche. But getting angry over someone else’s beliefs just doesn’t make sense to me. I’m just a normal girl who loves geeky stuff. Most of my fellow Mormons are similarly just normal people living normal lives. Making assumptions about us is similar to any religious person assuming that gays are “sinners.” Me, I assumed that you simply didn’t know me instead of assuming that you truly hate me. I sure hope that’s the case, because I sure enjoy the company of geeky women :)

Completely at random I started listening to this book today.  I must of downloaded it over a year ago, never really a fan of Sherlock homes I never listened to it.  It was ok, and I fell asleep quickly.   I woke up in the heart of book when young was threatening a man to have his daughter to be married off.  I figured it was someones idea of a joke to mix in some sort of anti-Mormon crap into classic literature. I googled it and sure enough this was how the book was originally written.. I am re listening to the parts that I missed and I can’t understand how the Mormon section fits into the mystery.  Since I am still listening to it I can’t really say how it all turns out.  That said I think the book is very lacking, It begins well enough but soon proves to be like all the other crappy books I hated in grade school. 

To be honest I am surprised anyone enjoyed the story as a whole.  I am sure everyone can agree its crap.   

I also agree with most of you.  The person who wrote this article isn’t very bright. Clearly Alanna Bennett doesn’t know the definition of “banned”..  By Alanna Bennett’s view 99.9% of books ever written are banned, because they are not required readings… lol