Protesters are calling on Target Australia to pull the Bible from their shelves after it was announced that Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V would no longer be sold by the retail giant.
A petition on Change.org says the Bible "encourages readers to murder women for entertainment" and "literally makes a game of bashing, killing and horrific violence against women".
It comes in direct response to a previous petition which accused GTA of the same charges. That petition gained more than 48,000 signatures and led to Target removing the game from its shelves as a result of "community pressure".
The original petition was created by three women who are survivors of sexual violence. They condemned the video game for turning "this violence we lived through...into a form of entertainment".
"This game spreads the idea that certain women exist as scapegoats for male violence. It shows hatred and contempt for women in the sex industry and puts them at greater risk...Games like this are grooming yet another generation of boys to tolerate violence against women," they said.
"It is fuelling the epidemic of violence experienced by so many girls and women in Australia - and globally."
General Manager of Corporate Affairs at Target, Jim Cooper, confirmed on Wednesday that the game would be pulled from shelves.
"We've been speaking to many customers over recent days about the game, and there is a significant level of concern about the game's content," he said.
"We've also had customer feedback in support of us selling the game, and we respect their perspective on the issue. However, we feel the decision to stop selling GTA5 is in line with the majority view of our customers."
However, the petition against the Bible has now gained more than 51,000 supporters, and the person behind it said the response has been "overwhelming".
"We have beaten the original petition and so I think it's time to declare victory," he said in an update today.
"I will be sending the petition to both Target and Target Australia...There really has been an overwhelming response. Thanks for all your signatures."
Target Australia has responded to the latest petition only so far as to deny that it even sells the Bible:
@DevonCallaway We don't actually sell the bible at Target, that's some pretty impressive numbers though!
— Target Australia (@Targetaus) December 7, 2014 " data-caption="null" data-credit="null">@MrHandsss Thanks for your feedback! We do not currently range any religious texts.
— Target Australia (@Targetaus) December 7, 2014 " data-caption="null" data-credit="null">
