Critics say bans would hinder rights as proponents would impose their beliefs on others who don’t share their views

Summary

Rightwing groups across the US are driving a wave of legislation to restrict books in school and public libraries, targeting content deemed “sexually explicit” or “obscene,” often affecting LGBTQ+ and race-related titles.

Texas leads with 31 bills and 538 book bans in the 2023–24 school year.

Proposed laws, like Texas Senate Bill 13, shift book selection power from librarians to parent-led advisory boards.

Critics, including librarians and legal scholars, warn these efforts amount to censorship, risk violating First Amendment rights, and reduce access in underserved communities.

  • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    2·
    2 天前

    There were scores of Christians who thought slavery was great. If the bible was really the ticket into being against it then it wouldn’t have happened in the first place

    And let’s be very clear, the bible was explicitly used by slaveowners to justify chattel slavery in the US. Slave bibles that had any mention of concepts like freedom removed, were distributed to slaves in order to keep them in line.

    So not only does the bible explicitly condone slavery, it was itself used to great success, as a justification for chattel slavery in the US.

    My only conclusion can be that an all-powerful, all-knowing god was aware of this and allowed it to happen. At the very least. And perhaps even wanted it to happen.

    All it would have taken was to change one of the several “don’t worship anyone but me, guys” commandments to “don’t own other humans as property.” Problem solved.

    The bible is full of “revolutionary ideas” (in the addled minds of Christians who have never read an actual book in their lives), yet “don’t own people” was just a step too far I guess.