Thank blogger and teacher Mercedes Schneider for giving me this idea. In her blog deutsch29, Schneider castigates book-banning Moms for Liberty’s campaign to pull “pornographic material” out of school libraries. In Brevard County, Florida, the books they want removed from school libraries include Forever by Judy Blume, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson, and Normal People by Sally Rooney.
According to its website, “Moms for Liberty is dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.” Its co-founder was appointed by Ron DeSantis to the Florida Commission on Ethics. It claims to have more than 100,000 members in 44 states. As a not-for-profit group its funding sources remain unclear.
The Southern Poverty Law Center labels “Moms” an extremist group. “At the forefront of this mobilization is Moms for Liberty, a Florida-based group with vast connections to the GOP that this year the SPLC designated as an extremist group. They can be spotted at school board meetings across the country wearing shirts and carrying signs that declare, “We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT.” The group hijacks meetings, preventing officials and parents from conducting their normal proceedings. “I can be sitting in a meeting minding my own business, and they turn around and scream at me that I am a commie and teachers want to see all kids fail,” a teacher’s union president in Brevard County, Florida, explained to a Washington Post reporter.”
In Tennessee, “Moms” protested against an elementary school science book that included a photograph of two sea horses mating and stories about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ruby Bridges as “anti-white.” An Indiana chapter was forced to apologize after including a quote by Adolf Hitler on its newsletter masthead. On Long Island, “Moms” led protests against mask mandates during the COVID pandemic. “Moms” specifically target books that show gay and lesbian men and women in a positive light and anything they deem “Critical Race Theory.” The group has close ties to the Florida Republican party and has been honored by the rightwing Heritage Foundation. In June 2023, Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis spoke at the Moms for Liberty annual summit.
While I don’t endorse book banning, I thought Moms for Liberty might consider banning the Judeo-Christian Bible in public school libraries because of its depictions of violence and sex. Check out these passages. Please post others in the comments.
“In the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. Deuteronomy 20:16-17, New International Version
“Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death.” Joshua 1:18 (New International Version)
“David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.” 1 Samuel 18-27 (New International Version)
“Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.” Genesis 19:30-36 (New International Version)
“After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him. When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” Genesis 38:12-15 (New International Version)
“But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.” “No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.” But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.” 2 Samuel 13:11-14 (New International Version)