Celebrate Banned Books Week

In 1859 John Stewart Mill, in his treatise On Liberty, wrote, “The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is…robbing the human race.” He goes on to say, “If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.”

Referring to the banning of the novel The Grapes of Wrath Gretchen Knief, a librarian, wrote, “Ideas don’t die because a book is forbidden reading. If Steinbeck has written truth, that truth will survive. If he is merely being sensational and lascivious, if all the ‘little words’ are really no more than fly specks on a large painting, then the book will soon go the way of all other modern novels and be forgotten.” (Quoted from 120 Banned Books)

Today, when you walk into the public library you can pull a book off the shelf from almost any subject matter. The idea of banning books seems foreign or outdated. This is largely due to the efforts of librarians across America. Two groups have fought hard to uphold the liberties stated in the first amendment: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and librarians (American Library Association, ALA). Both of these groups have stood for the preservation of intellectual freedom even when it was highly unpopular and discouraged by the majority.

The concept of banning books might seem foreign today but the truth is that even today individuals and groups attempt to silence and censor certain information and ideas. This link will take you to a page listing all the books that have been challenged during the last year, showing that the fight against censorship is not over. To celebrate the victorious efforts in the fight against censorship and to encourage the continual effort to supply an open and free marketplace, the ALA designates the last week of September as Banned Books Week.

This year Banned Books Week is September 25th – October 2nd. The theme is “Think For Yourself and Let Others Do The Same.” Many resources can be found on the ALAs website at www.ala.org/ on their advocacy page and also at www.bannedbooksweek.org

I encourage everyone to stop by your local library next week and check out the displays and literature provided by your local librarian. Look on your library’s website for events and reading happening during the week. The Seattle Public Library is doing a presentation on the novel To Kill a Mockingbird including a free screening of the 1962 film starring Gregory Peck.

Your freedom to read is not a liberty that has evolved slowly over time but one that has been hard fought by many librarians, both past and present. Take the opportunity to revel in this freedom. Read a book that has largely been banned and partake in the activities happening at every local library across America. What book will you check out this week?

Lets Make A Difference!

I would like to make a direct plea to all of my friends who are in some sort of church leadership position. Now more then ever our churches need to publically promote tolerance. Christianity needs to work harder at promoting interreligious dialogue. I am not ignorant to the fact that many of your already do this. I would like to urge those who do to make this stance more public. Take ads out in the newspapers, put PSAs on the radio, television and at the movies. Hang signs in your neighborhoods. Intentionally make an effort to increase contact with people of all religions, and not for the sake of outreach, evangelism, debate or education but instead for the sake of reaching a hand out and saying “I respect you.”

As I said, I know that many of you are already doing this and understand the need much more then I do. Yesterday Terry Jones in Florida announced his “International Burn-a-Quran Day” scheduled for Sept. 11^th. I am not asking for him to be silenced as he is protected by the first amendment. Instead I think it is disappointing that people like Terry Jones fills the pages of our newspapers when he is such a small voice within Christianity. I am asking for voices like this to be diminished by positivism coming out of our churches.

Next year Sept. 11^th lands on a Sunday, that is just over a year from today. Now is the time to begin a campaign to promote the voice of peace. The Christian voice is a voice of power and privilege in America. Next year lets give that privilege up 100%. Lets find a way to show the rest of America and the world that not all Christians are intolerant bigots like Terry Jones. Next year at the ten-year “anniversary” of 9/11 lets find a way to give up our traditional Christian worship services for a day of service and community. Lets begin brainstorming ways to show that we love and care for our Muslim neighbors.

I am looking to open conversation with my Christian, and non-Christian, friends concerning this. Jesus did not call us to show hate instead he called us to love. Let’s begin a movement so positive that it makes voices like Terry Jones so insignificant that no one even hears it. What are some ways we can make a significant impact next September though some sort of interreligious meeting?