Sherry Chandler » 2006 » August » 13
The Bible Belt Blogger has posted several follow ups on our local book-banning law this week, including:
Claim: Legislators afraid to drop books ban
The state’s ban on “infidel” school books and doctrine may be archaic and unconstitutional, but its not going to disappear anytime soon, several lawmakers predicted this week. “There’s nobody that wants to get on record saying ‘I’m against God and Christianity,’” said state Sen. David Karem, D-Louisville.
A vote against the books ban could be used against incumbents in future elections, he said. “Why would a legislator want to give someone ammunition by repealing a law nobody knows is there?”
Fletcher Mum on “Infidel” Books Ban
What does Governor Ernie Fletcher think about Kentucky’s ban on “infidel” school books and “infidel” doctrine? I can’t tell you. He won’t say.
The former Primitive Baptist minister, who used his 2006 state of the state speech to promote the teaching of creationism in Kentucky’s schools, has dodged questions about the law for 10 days.
Graves County banned infidel William Faulkner in 1986
It’s hard to ascertain whether school districts across the state are actually enforcing the ban on “infidel” books and doctrine which is required by state law and mandated by school-board approved policies and procedures. People who strip “infidel” books from school libraries don’t usually call press conferences when they do it. But if the book ban is passed by a school board in a public meeting with reporters in attendance, word spreads quickly.
That’s what happened in 1986, when the Graves County School Board unanimously voted to expel William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” from its classrooms and libraries.
According to “Book Banning in America” by William Noble, the board objected to the book because one of its characters tries to obtain an abortion. Plus there were a few profanities (none you wouldn’t hear on network television.)
But the biggest objections were theological. In the book, a woman dies and her family struggles to bury her and to deal with her tragic end.
“If there is a God, what the hell is he for?” one of the characters says.
No one, not even Faulkner, could challenge the existence of God in this particular school system and get away with it.
Context, of course, means nothing.
It’s like scanning through Lady Chatterly’s Lover looking for the racy bits. I did that some time during my high school years, and I can testify that they are few and far between. The rest of the novel I found deadly dull. Which is why I can’t imagine trying to teach As I Lay Dying at any public school level. I discovered the novel during my college years and I was just blown away by its sheer outrageousness. I loved it. But if I had been forced to read it during high school, it would have been just another dull assignment. I don’t think high school kids in the United States are ready for a piece of literature so sophisticated.
Though choosing not to teach it is considerably different from banning it as an “infidel” book.
This post was written by sherry
An e-mail from Michelle Purvis:
The Rivers Institute at Hanover College is hosting the 14th Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana Writers’ Roundtable on October 6-8, 2006 in Hanover and Madison, Indiana.
The O/K/I Writers’ Roundtable will include a writers’ conference and readings by faculty leaders and participants. The Roundtable will feature workshops for practicing and aspiring writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and documentary films. A one-on-one critique opportunity is also available.
We invite you to participate in these workshops and attend the readings and keynote address. Feel free to pass on this e-mail to anyone who might be interested in the Roundtable.
The registration fee for one workshop is $85, which includes the Opening Reception on Friday, breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and the choice of one workshop. The registration fee for two workshops is $150, which includes the Opening Reception on Friday, breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and the choice of one morning and one afternoon workshop. A limited number of scholarships are available. The Keynote Address and all Conference readings are free and open to the public.
Please visit the event website for complete details: www.riversinstitute.org/events/OKI
If you would like to receive a hard-copy brochure about this event, please e-mail us with your address.
Do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.
Thank you,
Michelle Gammon Purvis
Associate Director of Culture Programs
Rivers Institute at Hanover College
812-866-6846
www.riversinstitute.org
This post was written by sherry
