Christian censorship
Good morning!
Today I'd like you to research an example of Christian censorship or banning of books (for example, the Vatican's Index of Prohibited Books or recent controversies over J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels). When, if ever, do you think Christians should protest certain books? How should they do so? Can outright censorship be a form of faithful Christian witness, and if so, how?
Think, argue, love one another.
Love,
Mrs. D
posted by Sister Sara @ 8:03 AM
10 comments
10 Comments:
I'm first. W00t.
I have a lot of radical viewpoints that tend to stray away from the Bible and mainstream ideas in general. With that said, I don't think Christians should propose bans of any books, period.
For that matter, neither should anyone else. This is a free country, for goodness' sake. Do we really want to put limits on the artistic ability of directors, writers, and playwrights? People seem to forget that they have the option to simply not watch/read/attend art that offends them. Is that so hard to do?
I vehemently oppose censorship in any form.
Hey guys!
I've agreed with everything that everyone has written so far, censorship is not necessarily a good thing for believers. This whole discussion reminds me of the Secondary Debate we had a few years ago, I think I was in 8th grade, and the topic was censorship of books. Both sides brought up different points, but if I remember correctly, those against censorship won out in the end, and there's no question as to why. Like the majority has already said, we as believers are given free choice with everything. God gives us the ability to choose Him, choose what we're going to do with ourselves, etc. So, by placing certain books on a ban list, it's eliminating the very choice that gave us life to begin with, choosing to do, or not to do; to read or not to read. So, I think censorship is the thing to be banned, not the books themselves.
I'm actually not quite sure what this is asking. If a church banned a book, would that mean they wouldn't let the book in the building? Or are they forbidding the members of their church to read it? Or are they forbidding all Christians to read it? And if someone read the book anyway, would they not be allowed to go to that church? Would they not be considered a Christian? I suppose a church has a right to keep a book out of its building, but I don't think they should be able to tell everyone what they should or shouldn't read. But I think it is okay for Christian parents to object to their children being forced to read certain books in school. Some books are objectionable, and actually Rachel had a problem with this at Southeastern. I think that Christian schools should be careful what kind of books they have in their libraries, but I don't know if that would be considered banning. They shouldn't make porn books readily available to their students, because that's just not right, and I guess you could call that banning porn books. I think I've written way too much, so I'll stop now.
This is from Stephanie G., not Mrs. D:
I think that Christians should protest certain books. Of course you will always have those people who take it too far and who go to ban books for silly reasons. But,
I can remember being in public school and when I was in the library, picked up a book and opened up to read a page or two and it was a very sexual scene. I took it to a teacher and she could've cared less. We as Christians don't have the luxury of "caring less" we have to care.
Stephanie
This is from Alex:
I think that we shouldn't be the stingy goody goodies that the world sees us as. We can have our own opinions on a book, but we have to let other people make their decisions, on their own.
I'd like to argue jake(27). Sorry, I'm not quite sure who you are. Addressing what you said. "Do we really want to put limits on the artistic ability of directors, writers, and playwrights?" I believe that God does give people gifts of writing, however, God also gives people gifts for comedy, dancing, and strength. But does that mean we should just go around doing it however we want? No. Think, how many comedians out there are hilarious, but use really crude humor which doesn't only offend people, but it also brings people down. Spiritually and emotionally. Dancing is a great talent. I love to dance, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go around and dance in a way which is unpleasing to God. Also strength. My mom always says "Strength is for protecting, not terrorizing." She's absolutely right. Look at what happened on 9/11, terrorists used their "strength" of wit and destroyed the lives of thousands of Americans... actually, millions of Americans. Do you get where I'm going with this? Jake's right about how we shouldn't make a big deal about offending people, because people often get offended when presented with the truth. However, just because someone has a gift, doesn't mean we should give them no boundaries. Granted sometimes stuff is included in books to relate the truth of the matter. That's fine. But including very downgrading material just for the sake of doing it is wrong. You don't need sex, and profanity to make a book great. At the same time, we shouldn't go overboard with things.
Overall, I think today's society is going a little... no way too overboard. Some books just portray the reallity of a situation and those should be suggested to a more mature audience. And editing out the word naval is just stupid! :-)
I somewhat agree with Jake, but not so much on his reasoning. Sorry I wrote so much.
I wasn't going to comment again, but after reading some of the things people said, I feel like I must.
First off, Patrick, I think you misunderstood my argument a little bit. I agree with you on the point that talents can be abused, and that they are. Constantly, in fact. However, since I am not God (fortunately) I am not going to tell someone to not write a dirty book because it is morally wrong. God is the Judge, for me to start judging people is the very height of arrogance.
And Diana, I admire your view, however, you seem to forget that if you give someone an inch, they will take a mile, and government officials are not an exception to this rule. After we ban the "written porn", what next? The slightly less explicit, but still obscene, books? And what about the Bible? What is considered a Holy Book has some of the most explicit stuff you can get (I am NOT slamming the Bible for this, by the way). Should we ban the Bible because it contains scenes that are hardly less explicit than trashy romance novels?
If anyone wants to know, I am a hardcore libertarian :)
An example of "Christian censorship" is when the Vatican went about with their "fig leaf campaign" to cover up niudity in art. I don't think Christians should CENSOR anything. It's one thing to speak out, but to censor? It's not our job to police the world. That's why we have God.
Well, Jake, I do apologize for misusing your argument. I just was trying to make a point. I didn't mean judging anyone, I just meant there should be some sort of boundaries... for protection. I do think we should at least warn people about the contents of books... like a rating or something. I'm sorry (really) if I came across as being arogant or judgmental because that's the last thing any Christian needs to be. Thank you for your comment.
Graded.
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