







I can’t imagine why, in a million years, this should surprise me. After all. the poor, persecuted religious right is all about enforcing their morality and anything they deem “unworthy” is clearly anti-Christian:

Mountain View High school had originally included “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie as part of their required reading list, but some parents protested and successfully got it removed (it’s currently being reviewed by the school board.) The parents claimed it was too sexual for their 10th graders and that the book had an anti-Christian message.

For reference, here is the line that parents found scandalous: ‘If God hadn’t wanted us to masturbate, then God wouldn’t have given us thumbs.’

The horror! But it almost got worse after an intrepid student decided to hand out copies of the pornographic obscene perfectly ordinary book in a nearby park. Some obnoxious concerned parents, presumably the same uptight assholes people that had the book banned in the first place, called the police. Unfortunately for the Inquisition offended Christians, passing out books is not illegal in this country. Something I’m sure they would like to remedy as soon as possible.

But the real take away from this story is the increase in book banning across the country:

In November, the Kids’ Right to Read Project investigated three times the average number of incidents, adding to an overall rise in cases for the entire year, according to KRRP coordinator Acacia O’Connor. To date, KRRP has confronted 49 incidents in 29 states this year, a 53% increase in activity from 2012. During the second half of 2013, the project battled 31 new incidents, compared to only 14 in the same period last year. “It has been a sprint since the beginning of the school year,” O’Connor said. “We would settle one issue and wake up the next morning to find out another book was on the chopping block.”