Book Wars

We are called and empowered to live sanctified lives, set apart to God, and distinctive from the ways of this world. Colossians chapter 3 offers this guidance:
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him...

The Bible deals in absolutes: life and death, light and darkness, truth and error.  What we allow into our minds can be filtered according to the absolute standards of the Bible. So, we have to be grounded in knowing what is right and what is wrong. We do have to recognize that through the media, including the Internet, the availability of inappropriate, unclean content is tremendous. We can be challenged to stand strong against the ways of the world and offer the light of truth. 

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The availability of pornography is quite stunning and greatly concerning, and children of a variety of ages are easily exposed to it, which is a warning to parents. Ephesians 5 addresses our response:
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
14 Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light."

It was the #10 topic of 2023 impacting the Christian community, and the implications are great for cities and towns all across our nation.  Obscene, pornographic, inappropriate sexual material is being made available to children in libraries.  Last year, Kirk Cameron called attention to the problem by challenging libraries who had hosted drag queen events to allow him to come and read a Christian children's book he had written.  He got few takers.  He and his publisher sponsored a "See You at the Library Day" last summer - there were hundreds that showed up to see him in Madison, Alabama, but not after a concerted effort to cancel the event.

It's rather stunning to me to see that communities are even having a discussion. As a culture, we should be intent on protecting the hearts and minds of our children from being exposed to material that will pollute and corrupt their souls.  

And, a new Christian Post article details some of the data from a new survey about school libraries.  It says:

The EveryLibrary Institute and Book Riot released the results of a survey titled “Parents’ Perception of School Libraries and Librarians” based on responses from 616 parents and guardians collected throughout the month of December.

When asked if they trusted “school librarians to select appropriate books and materials for school libraries,” 80.65% of respondents answered in the affirmative, while the other 19.35% said they did not trust librarians to make such decisions.

OK, so there is a high level of trust there. But, the justification is a bit flimsy.  The Christian Post article states:

...82.35% of parents expressed confidence in school librarians to “recommend age and content-appropriate books and materials to students.” At the same time, most parents (81.44%) stated that they did not “know how school librarians decide if a book should be in the school library’s collection.”

This survey indicates that parents want to have a say in the type of books their children are allowed to check out; 6-out-of-10 "agreed that school libraries should 'restrict access to certain books based on a child’s age or require parental permission to check out certain books,'” and a slightly lower percentage said that parents should be notified about the books their children check out. Just over half of parents said that they would support having parents "sign a form indicating that their child cannot access the school library.”

An overwhelming majority of parents surveyed - 8-in-10 - said they would support “content rating systems based on their appropriateness for different age groups or contents, similar to the rating systems used for movies, TV shows, or video games..."

The director of the EveryLibrary Institute, John Chrastka, said, “On one hand, there is a clear and strong affirmation of the value of school libraries and the professionals who run them, with a majority of parents recognizing the importance of these educational resources in their children’s lives. On the other hand, the survey also reveals deep-seated concerns and divergent views among parents regarding access to certain books and the extent of parental oversight in school libraries..."

The head of BookRiot, Kelly Jensen described in the article as a "progressive," is quoted as saying:

“That LGBTQ+ books are still seen as the most likely to be seen as inappropriate for anyone under 18 is chilling. It is not encouraging to see that nearly 1/3 of parents would seek to ban a book from the school library if it made them or their child uncomfortable.”

It's still all about protecting our children - while attempting to paint the other side as "book-banners" and "censors," these activists have decided that our children should have the right to read what they want to read; in some cases, overriding the rights of parents to direct the training of their children. And, you can find the so-called LGBT books, by their very nature, contain inappropriate material concerning a warped view of sexuality.  It's not a subject matter to be ignored, because parents should present a Biblical view on that subject, but it's the parents who should be teaching that. 

No, we cannot protect our children from all the harmful influences in this world, which is why kids need to be equipped with a Biblical filter that they themselves activate when they see something that contradicts a Biblical worldview perspective.  It really underscores the tremendous God-given responsibility that parents have.  And, we should be resilient in standing against the influences that have a corrupting effect on our culture at large. Free speech is one thing - detrimental, obscene, pornographic speech and imagery are clearly something that should not be protected by the First Amendment, and you have those who intentionally corrupt while hiding behind bogus "free speech" claims.