1Cynfelyn
Reposted from the "News Headlines" thread, in the hope of sparking a fuller discussion:
Texas school district pulls the Bible, The Bluest Eye and other books from library
(Tarrant county) school district is scrambling to remove books from its library shelves ahead of the fall semester, after they were challenged by parents and community members. Among the books removed are a graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, and the Bible. It's not clear why more than 40 books were challenged.
(Guardian, 2022-08-23).
Query. The Bible has been mentioned in passing in this group a couple of times. Do the various religions' holy books get challenged often?
Texas school district pulls the Bible, The Bluest Eye and other books from library
(Tarrant county) school district is scrambling to remove books from its library shelves ahead of the fall semester, after they were challenged by parents and community members. Among the books removed are a graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, and the Bible. It's not clear why more than 40 books were challenged.
(Guardian, 2022-08-23).
Query. The Bible has been mentioned in passing in this group a couple of times. Do the various religions' holy books get challenged often?
2aspirit
Thank you for starting this topic!
Sidenote: The thread that inspired the question is focused on the USA. Because it's originally compiled and mostly maintained by (US) Americans, it misses considerable amounts of censorship activity in other countries, including in Russia, China, Brazil, Australia, and Canada. However, not only has this always been a group with a focus on one country, the fervor for banning books has been too intense lately to watch it all even with that localization. My point is that I'll have to continue to focus on the USA even as comparisons are made with other countries.
Okay, so yes, holy books are challenged often.
Maybe not as much as people expect, though, at least not the way that might be expected.
Examples:
• The Holy Bible
"The Holy Bible Is Now One Of The Most Challenged Books In America" (HuffPost) in 2016, because of its religious viewpoint. All versions of the work combined made it to #52 in the ALA's list of most challenged works in the USA for the previous decade. However, some prominent Christians are upset it's not on banned lists more often, seemingly because that means Bibles get less attention than the non-religious books that are more frequently challenged. (Until it does make a list, then it's mentioned more than the other books, as we can see with a glance through the current news.)
• The Holy Qur'an (القرآن al-Qurʾān, a.k.a "The Koran")
https://world.edu/banned-books-awareness-holy-quran/ a blog post in which the writer talks about a book burning in northern Florida in 2011. Additional info on what might have been more a protest against Islam overall than an attempt to ban the book: "Florida pastor Terry Jones’s Koran burning has far-reaching effect" (WaPo, 2011).
I'm not finding any information on the Qur'an in my searches of the ALA website, possibly because I don't know what name the association would use for the work. Likely, there are too few copies of the work in spaces where it attracts unwanted attention for it to be challenged much. The Bible, in contrast, is in nearly every school (public and private) and community library as well as in the abundance of churches, the majority of hotels and motels, many homes, and elsewhere across the USA.
edited to correct links
Sidenote: The thread that inspired the question is focused on the USA. Because it's originally compiled and mostly maintained by (US) Americans, it misses considerable amounts of censorship activity in other countries, including in Russia, China, Brazil, Australia, and Canada. However, not only has this always been a group with a focus on one country, the fervor for banning books has been too intense lately to watch it all even with that localization. My point is that I'll have to continue to focus on the USA even as comparisons are made with other countries.
Okay, so yes, holy books are challenged often.
Maybe not as much as people expect, though, at least not the way that might be expected.
Examples:
• The Holy Bible
"The Holy Bible Is Now One Of The Most Challenged Books In America" (HuffPost) in 2016, because of its religious viewpoint. All versions of the work combined made it to #52 in the ALA's list of most challenged works in the USA for the previous decade. However, some prominent Christians are upset it's not on banned lists more often, seemingly because that means Bibles get less attention than the non-religious books that are more frequently challenged. (Until it does make a list, then it's mentioned more than the other books, as we can see with a glance through the current news.)
• The Holy Qur'an (القرآن al-Qurʾān, a.k.a "The Koran")
https://world.edu/banned-books-awareness-holy-quran/ a blog post in which the writer talks about a book burning in northern Florida in 2011. Additional info on what might have been more a protest against Islam overall than an attempt to ban the book: "Florida pastor Terry Jones’s Koran burning has far-reaching effect" (WaPo, 2011).
I'm not finding any information on the Qur'an in my searches of the ALA website, possibly because I don't know what name the association would use for the work. Likely, there are too few copies of the work in spaces where it attracts unwanted attention for it to be challenged much. The Bible, in contrast, is in nearly every school (public and private) and community library as well as in the abundance of churches, the majority of hotels and motels, many homes, and elsewhere across the USA.
edited to correct links
3aspirit
I think this is worth noting, as well.
In a 2010 press releases by the Ku Klux Klan, known in part for its history of burning homes and trying to censor large groups of people through violence, including murder, reportedly said in response to Pastor Jones' stunts,
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/book-burning-not-o-k-with-the-k-k-k
In the past decade or so, the repeat burning of secular books in protest (often of queer people) elicits favorable statements from newer hate groups. So I don't know if the KKK's statement was real or if only seemed plausible to readers at the time due to the special consideration society makes for religious texts.
In a 2010 press releases by the Ku Klux Klan, known in part for its history of burning homes and trying to censor large groups of people through violence, including murder, reportedly said in response to Pastor Jones' stunts,
There are without doubt Islamic sects that teach extreme views of Islam but, going down to their level of hatred by burning their books is a dangerous and ignorant way to confront their teachings. The flames made by such unholy fires never die out! The Ku Klux Klan, LLC. opposes this most un-American thinking and activity.
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/book-burning-not-o-k-with-the-k-k-k
In the past decade or so, the repeat burning of secular books in protest (often of queer people) elicits favorable statements from newer hate groups. So I don't know if the KKK's statement was real or if only seemed plausible to readers at the time due to the special consideration society makes for religious texts.
4aspirit
Oh, this is certainly on-topic. The Bible appears to be in competition for the ALA's Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books in 2022. I was trying to find the statements I had previously read from State of Florida officials mocking challenges of the work when he following came up (without any of the quotes I was searching for, unfortunately).
"Under new Florida law, activist requests 62 school districts to ban the Bible" as a stunt last April, which likely boosted the book title in the national tracking database.
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2022/04/26/florida-book-ban-banning-schoo...
As far as I'm aware, no copies of the book(s) were removed from schools or separate media centers in any of the school districts.
"Under new Florida law, activist requests 62 school districts to ban the Bible" as a stunt last April, which likely boosted the book title in the national tracking database.
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2022/04/26/florida-book-ban-banning-schoo...
As far as I'm aware, no copies of the book(s) were removed from schools or separate media centers in any of the school districts.
