I once asked that a book be removed from a library in my third graders school library. She asked me to read it after she had started to read it and discovered a lot of garbage in it. The kids in her class were all discussing it and passing it around. I read it and asked my husband to at least peruse it, which he did. We both found it disgusting, but especially for this young age. I wrote down at least ten reasons I objected to it and sent a note to the teacher, who in turn gave it to the principal. It was then sent to the librarian. She read my letter and the book and immediately pulled it from the shelf for that level. The school went through high school. She had children just a little younger than I did and said she would have been horrified for them to have read it.

The truth is that most librarians do not have time to read the books placed into libraries. They go by awards, authors, blurbs in publications etc. It never hurts to make them aware when you find something objectionable. How you go about it is another story.

School libraries are a very different story from public libraries. However, no library can purchase anything but a fraction of books published. It is up to the public to get on the boards to make sure good books are being purchased with our tax money. Good books are not the ones which only support a certain point of view. Those who purchase books, by necessity by-pass others. This can be a form of censorship in itself.

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This is Candi Cushman, the Focus on the Family representative who assisted the students and parents at the True Tolerance press conference in Fairfax County.

I would like to respond to the reports circulating that none of the students read the books. That is not true.

There were students at the event who had read the books, but who did not feel comfortable talking to the media. And the majority, if not all, of the students had looked through the books with their families to determine that the books fairly represented their faith-based viewpoint.

Did the students read every word? Since this truly was a grassroots, student-driven effort, that depended entirely on each student and their family. That is not something that Focus on the Family can or desires to control.

I would take issue with a few other claims:
1) That the books were turned down because they were “released by smaller church publications.” First of all, it’s laughable to call large Christian publishing companies such as Tyndale and InterVarsity Press “small church publications.” This reveals an attempt to marginalize an entire segment of society, which is exactly what the students were protesting.

Furthermore, the Fairfax County public schools’ library system already has Christian books in its collection published by faith-based companies much smaller than the two I just mentioned. Apparently, the Christian perspective is allowed in the library–—except when the issue happens to be homosexuality. Plus, there are several books in the Fairfax County public schools’ library system published by small homosexual-themed publishing groups. So the school system should be challenged to equally apply its standards.

2) Another charge was that the books were turned down because they did not have the requisite reviews. At least two of the books donated by the students on Thursday had reviews from the required sources. So will they be accepted? Again, the students and parents are asking for standards to be equally applied across the board. We’ve done research showing that major review agencies like Publishers Weekly only grant about 13 percent of the requests they receive for reviews. So it is doubtful that every book in the schools’ library system would meet this test.

3) And finally, I find the school district’s statement that they couldn’t allow the students’ donations because the books might make gay students “feel inferior” sadly hypocritical.
First of all, there is absolutely nothing in the donated books that would do that—-since most of the authors walked through these struggles personally and have a compassionate viewpoint on the issue.

Secondly, there is apparently no equal concern about making Christian kids—or others with faith-based viewpoints—feel inferior. Case in point: Books already in the Fairfax County school libraries openly ridicule and attack Christianity and other faith-based viewpoints, making statements like “Americans hate gays and lesbians in direct proportion to the number of times they attend their local church.” Another book in the system accuses Biblical doctrine of subverting social harmony.

Are those statements backed by research? Is the school system equally concerned with how these statements make Christian kids feel? Is their viewpoint not worthy of equal respect?

This gets back to the whole mission of the “True Tolerance” initiative—-creating equal respect for all viewpoints, including faith-based perspectives, as homosexuality is promoted more openly in public schools across the nation.

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34:25 And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.
34:26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out.
34:27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.
34:28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,
34:29 And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.

and this:

29:11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
29:12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.
29:13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar.
29:14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

and this:

26:16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it…

…And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
26:30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

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Both my wife and I have had male homosexuals as bosses (two separate men on two separate jobs).

My boss (now retired) told me that after he retired he planned to take up a second career as an interior designer. I told him, “How cliched and stereotypical can you get?” By the way, his partner’s and his house is an epitome of good taste. My wife is an outstanding interior decorator, but they give her a good run for the money.

Also speaking of cliches and stereotypes Gore Vidal, perhaps one of the most flamboyent homoesxuals in America, just turned 83. Not exactly Mr. Celibate or a role model of restrained behavior, doesn’t he know he is supposed to be dead by now, like people here tell us about homosexual men?

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How would the conservative Christians feel if a group of people presented a package of books that treated conservative Christians the way they’re calling for gay people to be treated? What if the group presented books that said conservative Christians were mentally ill and in need of psychological help? What if they presented books that called for conservative Christians to be treated as social outcasts? What if the group presented books calling for conservative Christians to have their legal rights taken away and made second-class citizens.

While I realize that conservative Christians will never see gay people as anything other than social and legal outcasts, most Americans have gotten over their fear and hate of gay people. They don’t want books in their library denigrating gay people any more than they want books in their library denigrating black people.

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On another note, as we prepare to begin homeschooling one of our kids as soon as the adoption is complete, she is hearing all manner of interesting speculation on the evils of homeschooling from her friends, teacher, and even bus driver! We tell her we will not begin homeschooling unless she has a positive view of public school as an option. It is possible to have a positive use for all the schooling options, none should be thrown out if possible. The music teacher has been the only positive one there. He encourages her to do her best and take advantage of the option of continuing in music class. He is a good teacher, thinking of the students as individuals.

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******Amen! But it does say something about how we teach. For example, even though I’m an Old Earth Creationist, my middle son is using a YEC science book and has a YEC science teacher (we use the Potter’s School for some online classes.)

My oldest has taken theistic evolutionary classes online from *Scholar’s Online* and is presently taking chemistry from the local Christian college which also supports theistic evolution.

He, though, is one of the reasons that I want to make sure that my other children get a more balanced perspective before they hit high school. My oldest (I think) tends to lean toward theistic evolution, and so I wanted to make sure that my other two got a better grounding in YEC ond OEC beliefs than he did (although he did get some, certainly.)

At any rate, all three of my kids know more about origins and development theories than the vast majority of PS students.

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I take your points as reasonably fair jibes at my post.

In part, I react because of my youngest sister, who was “born again” when she was about 13. She is (in my opinion, though my other siblings tend to agree with me) a fairly disturbed person.

I don’t attribute this to her being a fundamentalist Christian. I think she is a rather disturbed person who became a fundamentalist Christian. She could easily have become a fairly disturbed something else. Long story.

My daughter majored in biology. At times said sister sent young earth creationist literature and video tapes to my house (without identifying it as coming from her). Apparently, her hope was that she could convert my daughter with a degree in biology to Creationism. I guess she thought that would be a coup for crationism. I overreacted and yelled at my sister on the phone when I figured out the propaganda was coming from her. Also, my daughter is a big girl and can make up her mind on these matters perfectly well. Again, I overreacted.

So when I made the snarky remark about home schooling and evolution it stems a bit from family touchiness.

Actually, I have a lot of respect for home schooling. To a considerable extend, I think public schools suffer from a lot of problems. I taught in public schools for about ten years. One of my brothers (a secular person like me) home schooled his two daughters.

I simply disagree with evangelical Christians about their religious beliefs, about the inerrancy of the Bible, and about their claims about the origin of the world and our species, and about their attitudes about homosexuality. It’s better to be polite and respectful to each other, which some of us are some of the time, but at the end of the day, these are real and serious differences of opinion and these differences have real implications for our actions and our policies.

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******Every homeschooler I know has been exposed the Theory of Evolution. Every single one, and I know quite a few as a homeschooling mom myself.

It is just weird what some of you think goes on in Evangelical and homeschooling homes. Bizarre even.

My children (especially my oldest) can tell you all about Darwin and Evolutionary theory. My oldest has even been given permission to believe in it if he must, but he knows that neither of his parents do. (Although we are Old Earth creationists.)

But, even in my middle son’s Apologia General Science textbook (Young Earth Creationism all the way), there is a very thorough discussion of Darwin and Evolution. However, the arguments against it are also thoroughly discussed.

So, I wonder which kids are actually getting the fuller picture?

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