As a school in Manchester bans books from its library, Kate Orson considers what position Christian parents should take and on balance comes out in favour of banning
For an alternative view see here.
A school in Greaster Manchester has made a list of 130 books that should be removed from the shelves.
The librarian was told to remove books that weren’t for children or were considered a safeguarding risk. These included books with LGBT or sexual themes, and those about racism and politics.
The book purge resulted in the librarian removing biographies of World War II airmen, and ironically, a graphic novel of 1984. Did the school go too far? As Christians should we support book banning?
As a parent I’m completely for librarians and headteachers making sensible choices of what books to stock on the shelves
Firstly, I think book banning sounds very dramatic, but this is a case of a single school deciding what books to stock and which ones to remove. It’s not the same as nationwide bans we have seen in the past such as when the book Lady Chatterley’s Lover was deemed illegal in 1928 for obscenity.
When a school decides what is appropriate for children and what isn’t, it could be seen more as curating a safe selection of books rather than outright banning them. As a parent I’m completely for librarians and headteachers making sensible choices of what books to stock on the shelves.
As Christian parents it’s natural we’d prefer a bookshelf that reflects our belief system
However, in reality, I think the issue here is that we are flawed humans in a fallen world. Careful curation is tricky, and individual opinions would widely vary on what books are acceptable and which ones aren’t. The Manchester school allegedly asked an AI chatbot which books to remove and it isn’t clear from reports why they did this. Perhaps they thought it would give a more objective response? Yet AI can be erratic, and makes mistakes too, particularly because it doesn’t have lived human experience to inform its decision-making process.
As Christian parents it’s natural we’d prefer a bookshelf that reflects our belief system. I don’t like the idea of my daughter reading books that have a condoning attitude towards things that God sees as a sin, including those that are violent or are overtly sexual.
We also need to be careful about calls for censorship, which can actually result in a climate where the Bible itself cannot be read freely
However, I think we need to be aware of how the enemy can manipulate and play both sides in this argument. There’s no doubt that reading material for children and teens has become more sexually graphic, and less wholesome than it was in previous generations. We should protect our children from this content. But I also see how the ‘culture wars’ play on this fear and attempts to draw Christians into reactionary rejection of anything that doesn’t fit a ‘far right’ wing ideology. For example, books on politics and feminism were removed from the library. As Christians we might not agree with everything written on these subjects when it comes from a non-Christian perspective, but controlling a conversation isn’t the best way to have a conversation.
We also need to be careful about calls for censorship, which can actually result in a climate where the Bible itself cannot be read freely. In June 2023 a Utah school removed the King James Bible after a parent complained that it contained ‘vulgarity and violence.’ The Bible would have also met the criteria for being removed at the Manchester school as it is not specifically written for children.
I think a better approach is to plant the seeds that help steer her away from worldly content
While I don’t like the idea of my daughter reading certain books, I’m also resigned to the fact that she is going to come across them in the school library, and I’m not going to write to the librarian asking them which books they are stocking, or campaign for certain titles to be banned. I think a better approach is to plant the seeds that help steer her away from worldly content.
At the age of 11 I was given an adult card for the public library which allowed me to withdraw any book I chose. As a teenager my friends and I were fascinated by sexually graphic books by authors such as Jackie Collins and Jilly Cooper. Years before we’d all read ‘Forever’ by Judy Blume; a book about a teenage couple who lost their virginity together.
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I didn’t grow up in a Christian family, and I had no role models to guide me in Christian morality. Now things are different. Since becoming a believer, I get an ‘icky’ feeling when I watch a film with graphic sex scenes or swearing. The Holy Spirit living inside me reacts against these things and convicts me about them. I certainly wouldn’t want to read any Jackie Collins now!
We might not be able to control the library reading list, but we can nurture our child’s relationship with Jesus. So, while I won’t be writing emails to the librarian anytime soon, I do try to be a positive role model in my daughter’s life, in the hope that will help point her towards the light.
For an alternative view see here.
