America’s Best Christian Mrs. Betty Bowers, prepares to lull her children to sleep with bedtime stories from the Bible, and share them with us and wee ones as well.
Notice the nursery. In a mural, a tree, presumably from The Garden of Eden is depicted on the wall. Juicy apples have a red circle around them, with a strike mark, the universal warning sign. A cheery snake occupies one branch, and on another a monkey swings, with the caption ‘no relation’ next to him. Yes, this is the place where Betty’s Christian young are lulled to slumber-land on a cloud of classical Bible tales.
Betty begins by pointing out the failings in such classic children’s books as Goldilocks, Cinderella “the hoors” and Jack in the Beanstock – who would be up for a stoning, at the very least, for going ‘all Tower of Babel’ and practicing magic!
On the other hand, with all of the adultery, murder, fratricide, patricide, slavery, rape and other unmentionable acts present in the holy book of children’s nighttime tales, Betty is frank in her estimation of the biblical tales. Betty says: “If God hadn’t written the Bible, conservative Christians would be trying to keep it OUT of public libraries, not IN to public schools!” Amen to that, Sister Betty! Now, just for fun let’s see what kind of secular books our school libraries do try to keep from your children’s innocent eyes!
Find out why the Library of Congress has created a list of books which have had a ‘profound effect on American life’ but which also have been banned or challenged. To name but a very few, the books include: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: called “Trash and suitable for the slums.”
The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Called a “How-to-manual for crime” and decried as “anti white.”
“Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” Truly! Banned in a school library in Wisconsin,
“If there’s a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it,” the official stated.
Catcher in the Rye, called “Unacceptable, obscene, blasphemous” and that’s only the beginning!
“The Grapes of Wrath”
Fahrenheit 451″
“The Call of the Wild” I mean really! “Moby Dick” or The Whale, Herman Melville. In a real head-scratcher of a case, a Texas school district banned the book from its Advanced English class lists because it “conflicted with their community values” in 1996. Community values are frequently cited in discussions over challenged books by those who wish to censor them.
The list is long and extremely absurd. Can book burning be far behind? A much longer list and explanation can be found here.
More to the point, what can possibly be more objectionable in these books than some acts found in the Bible itself?It’s a sad day when we cannot comprehend that morals and values can be taught within the framework of well-written fiction. Mostly, it speaks volumes for those who are doing the censoring. It’s too late to re-educate them, but never too late to resist their influence.