September 2016:
Every year this week comes around and I think of this post I put up in 2011. There have been so many GOOD books over the years that have been banned. Find a list over time and see what wonders have made the list. A few that come to mind are of course The Bible, and who can forget Gone With the Wind? As my little 2-cents states, I am not for banning books. I am for stepping up and being a parent and being aware of what our children get their hands on. Should books be banned? No! Should all books be read though? Again a resounding NO! So, once again, here are my thoughts on banned books:
Repost from 2011:
Such a touchy topic! I’m not an essayist, and I’m not a very deep thinker, but I do have an opinion on the topic. So I’ll just jump in:
While I do not believe that books should be banned (wasn’t the Bible banned somewhere and sometime in history?), I do believe in Self-Censorship and censoring what our children read. As parents we need to be involved in our children’s lives. That means we need to be aware of what they are reading.
As my daughters went through public school there were a few times that I questioned the reading material that was sent home with them. If it didn’t agree with what we were teaching in our home then we discussed it. We then made a choice. Would we allow our daughter to participate, or would we request that an alternate assignment be given. Did we ever march up to the school and demand a book be removed from the curriculum? NO! Did we feel like it? Of course!
Did you see that “request that an alternate assignment be given”? As parents that is our right! These are our children and we determine how we want them to be raised. We are the ones that determine the morals and beliefs that we want our children taught. If that means not allowing a questionable piece of literature to be read then so be it. BUT, that is a decision for us to make for ourselves. NOT for the masses. To me just as one student does not determine what the masses read, so the masses shall not determine what one student reads.
That is just how we dealt with a public school setting. That doesn’t mean that I never went to a school and questioned motives and reasons behind assignments. It just means that decisions were made for MY child, not everyone else’s.
Regarding my own Self-Censorship, I used to read pretty much anything and everything. But as the saying goes, “Garbage in, Garbage out”, I have found that to be true in my own life. I choose not to read books with sexual content or excessive foul language. It is my own choice, my own conviction. I don’t try to foist that on any other person. My daughters are now adults; they choose for themselves what they want to read. Have I read any banned books? You betcha!
There is so much out there on the topic of banned books and censorship. I could never cover all that I feel on the subject. These are just some of my thoughts for this week that is set aside for celebrating banned books.
This is a verse that is over the front door in our home:
Joshua 24:15
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
We hope to live that verse out in our daily lives. What we read, what we say and what we do is a reflection of whom we are serving.
