BANNED BOOK WEEK SEPTEMBER 22-28

 

 

Banning books and burning books have been a hallmark of religious leaders as long as books have been published.

 

Book banning is not uncommon in Canada or the United States, but in the U.S. book banning has been normalized in Republican-led school districts.

 

By the mid-1950s the Catholic Church had banned over 4000 books.  Today fundamentalist Christians have taken up the torch.

 

Even here in liberal Maine, a Republican State Representative (Amy Arata) introduced a bill ‘to criminalize educators who would teach Kafka on the Shore by Marakimi.’ 

 

Some of the more notable books being banned today are:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

The Outlander by Joana Galbaldon

The Harry Potter series by J. K. Roling

To Kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee

Maus by by Art Speigelman

And of course, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

As a protest against Book banning Penguin Random House has produced a fire-proof version of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Join me in reading a banned book this month

the Ol’Buzzard 

BANNING BOOKS

I thought this was somewhat passé.   Though it has always been one of their trademarks, it has been a while since I have seen Christians promote the banning of books.

The small town of Rumford, about forty miles from where I live, is involved in a controversy over books in their library.   As you go in the door, librarians have placed a table of books for suggested reading.  Two of the books recently displayed are of gay teams.

  

A local pastor visiting the library was incensed, and later joined by two other local preachers.   They are being careful not to address their homophobia; but have contested the books claiming they promote a political agenda of supporting gay marriage. 

The librarians are standing pat.   Librarians are special people, always ready to defend the freedom of thought.

This is just another example of why we should speak out against religions.  More wars have been fought over religion, more people have died because of religious bigotry and more people have suffered due to religious zealotry than any other cause. 

It is time we speak out, not against religious bigotry, but against religion itself.   Religion has been the bane of civilization.  It brought about the Dark Ages and has continually opposed free thought and expression. 

the Ol’Buzzard