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This is sparked by hearing yet another comment about the Golden Compass book/movie controversy: a librarian posting on YALSA-BK that they were deciding not to show the Golden Compass because of its anti-religion message (<-quote, and just to nit-pick, well, I always considered it an anti-ORGANIZED-religion message, which I find a horse of an entirely different color). This is, umm, censorship? Yes, it is not selection. It is censorship of a different religious viewpoint. Lots of libraries seem perfectly comfortable promoting the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, with its actively pro-Christian-religion message, so being uncomfortable with the Golden Compass is, plain and simple, censorship based on religious beliefs.
I don't hear any commentary in the library community about how disrespectful it is to atheist or pagan religious viewpoints to have to listen to the outrage about works like The Golden Compass and the Harry Potter books. What I mean is that if there were library patrons coming in and saying stuff like: "I don't want my child reading that book because it encourages the belief that Judaism is an acceptable lifestyle" that would probably be considered hate speech. But when parents come in and say "I don't want my kids reading that because it encourages the belief that being a Witch is an acceptable lifestyle" or "I don't want my kids to see that because it encourages them to question organized Christian religion" I bite my tongue and do my best to help them, with the conviction that if I commented to coworkers how hard I find this, I would receive little sympathy. Despite, y'know, having spent most of my life associated with the Wiccan community to some extent and having grandparents who identified as atheist on one side. (And I wasn't throwing the Judaism example out there as a random choice: my family traces back on the paternal side to Sephardic conversos, and has experienced social and economic prejudice in my lifetime due to our Jewish antecedents, so that example was one of a prejudice that I would feel comfortable speaking out against, vs. the Wiccan one which I feel uncomfortable speaking out against.)
I absolutely endorse the inclusion of Christian fiction and theology in library collections - in fact, I think we need a lot more of it in most libraries, and I am trying to read more Christian fiction for youth to widen my readers' advisory abilities. I think that every person should be able to find books at the library that make them feel welcomed and respected. And I think that for Christian folks who like to read Christian fiction - we should have it. But the reading preferences of a vocal and politically engaged, generally conservative Christian segment of library users are being treated with more care and concern than the reading preferences and concerns of a mostly silent and politically disengaged group of liberal, pagan individuals. The silence and the disengagement account for that difference, I think, but it says a lot about our culture that even someone relatively privileged like myself [I have a Master's degree in library stuff and hold the professional title, so it would be hard to be much more of an insider without being a library director] doesn't feel safe or comfortable speaking out on that difference in a professional forum (let alone at work).
I don't hear any commentary in the library community about how disrespectful it is to atheist or pagan religious viewpoints to have to listen to the outrage about works like The Golden Compass and the Harry Potter books. What I mean is that if there were library patrons coming in and saying stuff like: "I don't want my child reading that book because it encourages the belief that Judaism is an acceptable lifestyle" that would probably be considered hate speech. But when parents come in and say "I don't want my kids reading that because it encourages the belief that being a Witch is an acceptable lifestyle" or "I don't want my kids to see that because it encourages them to question organized Christian religion" I bite my tongue and do my best to help them, with the conviction that if I commented to coworkers how hard I find this, I would receive little sympathy. Despite, y'know, having spent most of my life associated with the Wiccan community to some extent and having grandparents who identified as atheist on one side. (And I wasn't throwing the Judaism example out there as a random choice: my family traces back on the paternal side to Sephardic conversos, and has experienced social and economic prejudice in my lifetime due to our Jewish antecedents, so that example was one of a prejudice that I would feel comfortable speaking out against, vs. the Wiccan one which I feel uncomfortable speaking out against.)
I absolutely endorse the inclusion of Christian fiction and theology in library collections - in fact, I think we need a lot more of it in most libraries, and I am trying to read more Christian fiction for youth to widen my readers' advisory abilities. I think that every person should be able to find books at the library that make them feel welcomed and respected. And I think that for Christian folks who like to read Christian fiction - we should have it. But the reading preferences of a vocal and politically engaged, generally conservative Christian segment of library users are being treated with more care and concern than the reading preferences and concerns of a mostly silent and politically disengaged group of liberal, pagan individuals. The silence and the disengagement account for that difference, I think, but it says a lot about our culture that even someone relatively privileged like myself [I have a Master's degree in library stuff and hold the professional title, so it would be hard to be much more of an insider without being a library director] doesn't feel safe or comfortable speaking out on that difference in a professional forum (let alone at work).
