I have no opinion about the literary merit of Christian literature with positive messages. I am not the demographic it is intended for, and the marketplace will determine whether it succeeds or not.

I do, however, have an opinion about public libraries scheming to keep such literature out of the hands of kids and parents, and apparently, that is what the government-funded American Library Association is doing, explicitly objecting to it because it is “right-wing” and thus incompatible with the mission that libraries have adopted.

We are constantly lectured that attempts to age-restrict books promoting alphabet ideology are “censorship” and must be resisted; but when it comes to Brave Books, a Christian-themed publisher, the ALA is promoting strategies to its members on how to deny permission for events where parents and celebrities gather to read books published by Brave being held in public spaces that libraries provide for meetings.

2/ BRAVE Books’ "See You at the Library" event, led by @KirkCameron, was organized to give conservative Christian families an opportunity to meet at public libraries around the country on August 5th as an alternative to controversial children’s drag queen events.

— BRAVE BOOKS (@BraveBooksUS) June 26, 2023

None of this is surprising, of course. It is blindingly obvious that libraries, like public schools, have absolutely no interest in actually ensuring that people have access to a wide range of literature and information from various religious and ideological perspectives.

Instead, they have become playgrounds for the Left to promote its own ideological views, sponsoring programs, pushing books through displays and other methods, and discouraging the consumption and discussion of books and ideas that are not approved of by librarians.

4/ This tour-turned-movement mobilized thousands of families seeking a biblical and patriotic message that @KirkCameron and BRAVE Books delivered. This movement continues, and on August 5th, we’ll have our first grassroots-organized “See You at the Library” event of the year.…

— BRAVE BOOKS (@BraveBooksUS) June 26, 2023

Librarians–at least the people who dominate librarians’ circles–explicitly see themselves as part of a larger social movement whose goal is shaping how society evolves into a socialist and cultural Marxist utopia.

This is, needless to say, not how they are sold to the public.

The methods discussed for how to exclude Kirk Cameron and Brave Books from meeting in libraries are notable for a lot of reasons, but the one that stands out above all others is the suggestion that adults reading anodyne books to children presents a security risk. This, in light of the fact that libraries across the country work very hard to ensure that Drag Queen Story hours are common in libraries, and often sponsored and paid for by the libraries themselves.

Now I don’t believe that DQSHs should have to worry about security concerns–after all, they aren’t typically characterized by Drag Queens performing sexually explicit shows in libraries–but it is difficult to imagine that parents bringing their kids to read Kirk Cameron books is an inherently dangerous activity.

Apparently, the argument is that Left-wing activists are likely to get violent in a way that conservative parents protesting DQSH are not. Either that or the librarians are full of it.

6/ On June 8, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, a director at the American Library Association @ALALibrary, spoke at the “Library 2023 Worldwide Virtual Conference.” She gave a presentation about how libraries could exploit loopholes to block BRAVE Books story hours. One idea she suggested… pic.twitter.com/zj6Yv0dOwB

— BRAVE BOOKS (@BraveBooksUS) June 26, 2023

Unfortunately, the people who oversee the libraries are as ideologically diverse as the faculty of a Gender Studies department faculty meeting, so all this is probably par for the course when it comes to planning.

This reminds of the controversial rollout of Abigail Shrier’s book “Irreversible Damage,” about the social contagion driving the explosive increase in “gender-affirming care,” particularly the rapid increase in the number of young girls who are getting recruited into the alphabet cult.

When the book came out, the American Booksellers’ Association sent it out along with a batch of other books as new publications. Booksellers erupted in anger, and the ABA was forced to apologize for its “violent” act.

Yes, it was violent for the ABA to send a free copy of the book to the curators for bookstores to examine.

As soon as Casey Morrissey opened the box of books, they were furious.

The title at the top of the stack was Abigail Shrier’s “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” a contentious tome that has sparked cries of transphobia since its release last summer.

“Do you know how that feels, as a trans bookseller and book buyer?” Morrissey, who works at Greenlight Bookstores in Brooklyn tweeted Wednesday. “It isn’t even a new title, so it really caught me in the gut. Do better.”

The American Booksellers Association quickly apologized for including the nonfiction book, which it characterized as “anti-trans,” in its July mailing to its 750 member bookstores. The trade organization’s monthly “white box” includes marketing materials, advance copies of books and finished titles the ABA wants booksellers to consider stocking.

“This is a serious, violent incident that goes against ABA’s … policies, values, and everything we believe and support,” the ABA wrote on Twitter. “It is inexcusable.”

The organization also vowed to take concrete steps to remedy the harm it said it had caused.

“Violent.” “Harm.”

By redefining the meaning of these words suddenly booksellers and librarians can censor ideas they dislike, all the while claiming that they are not censoring anything but the most dangerous and extreme literature.

Many libraries, though, explicitly allow people to use their computers for the consumption of pornography based on First Amendment grounds, explicitly ignoring Supreme Court obscenity rulings.

Librarians in Laguna Beach and at most other libraries have insisted that they are obliged to provide Internet access to pornography as a matter of their clients’ free-speech rights; limiting or prohibiting access to certain kinds of information amounts to censorship, in their eyes. The reality is more complicated, though.

Despite what the librarians say, libraries already restrict access to certain kinds of print material by using their scant financial resources to purchase some books and magazines rather than others. Libraries are far more likely to have copies of the New Yorker on the periodical shelves than copies of Hustler. True, Internet access to porn sites doesn’t cost a library more than access to Wikipedia, but both involve making judgments about the relative worth of some materials over others.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s take on this issue is mixed. In 2003, the court upheld a law requiring libraries that received certain forms of federal funding to filter out pornography so that minors couldn’t view it. Four members of the court signed on to an opinion saying that libraries had no 1st Amendment obligation to provide access to pornography at all.

Kirk Cameron is more obscene than PornHub, apparently.

Except, perhaps, the reality is that librarians are ideologically committed to the sexualization of everything, and random men masturbating in libraries is more acceptable than a Christian children’s book.

Few public services are so well thought of as libraries because they seem to provide a non-controversial service that all parents and adults benefit from.

As usual, this reputation simply means they can be a useful Trojan Horse.