It is interesting to read and listen to those who defend having vulgar, sexually explicit materials in public schools and public school libraries. They throw terms out there like censorship and book burners and Nazis, etc. Those who defend the books routinely talk about how they would NEVER dream of removing ANY book from a school or public library.
Really?
This issue — having books with graphic sexual images or passages that describe in great detail masturbation and sexual activity with minors or between relatives — is not about censorship. It is about standards. It is about decency. It is about commonsense.
Everyone with an ounce of sanity has a line they would draw somewhere when it comes to materials to have in a school or public library. The question, though, is where that line is. This is what differentiates folks.
Now, perhaps there are some people who truly would have anything and everything under the sun on the shelves in the school or public library. While Democrat House Rep. Jennifer Konfrst may call parents concerned with these inappropriate materials “fringe,” I think it is pretty clear that people who have zero standards for what should be on a library shelf are truly the fringe among us.
There is nothing wrong with standards. Nothing. Yet the Left wants to convince conservatives they’re a bunch of fun-hating prudes trying to control everyone else’s kids. That simply is not the case.
The reality of the situation is we are called to do what is best for society. And we are called to protect children — not pervert them. While the Left may have no problem with perverting little kids, a significant chunk of the population does.
I would venture to guess if Iowans were shown images from the book “Gender Queer,” 70 percent of them would agree the book does not belong in Iowa schools.
Kids need people — society — to protect them. And when it comes to images and passages in these books, yes, they should be protected from them. The passages and images used in the books does not plant “good ideas” or “intentions” into the minds of kids. It normalizes behavior that is not normal. Period.
And just because the perverted political Left has failed to succeed in perverting and corrupting enough adults does not give them free rein to take aim at children. Yet it is children who are their target.
All that said, I listened with interest to the Pella Library Board discuss the issue on Tuesday night. Pella is no stranger to LGBTQ insanity as a biological female was allowed to use the city pool last summer topless because she identifies as a male.
Yet on Tuesday night, every board member present voted in support of keeping “Gender Queer” in the library on the shelves. Every single one.
That is shocking and shameful. It certainly is not representative of the town of Pella, or at least the town’s reputation.
It seems the “leaders” on the library board have been deceived like many others. That removing a book from the library is a display of censorship rather than a display of standards.
Imagine what the people of Pella from just one generation ago would be thinking if they knew what was happening in the town.
There are undoubtedly a couple of Pella Library Board members who identify as Christians. There may be some people on the 10-person Carlisle Reconsideration Committee who identify as Christians. And while what I’ve written thus far applies to everyone, this next portion is intended for those who proclaim to be Christian yet allow this filth to remain on the shelves.
Those of you in these positions of power have been put there by God. And if you think you are doing His will by allowing books with images and passages like this to be accessed by children, you’d better take a long, hard look at who God is and what God wants for His people.
They may serve on a public board, but as Christians, there is a higher calling and a higher purpose. It isn’t loving, tolerant and Christian to allow this stuff to linger.
I guess my message for these Christians is simple — reread Matthew 18:6. Turn to Mark 9:42. Keep in mind that if those books, one of those books, causes just one of His little ones to stumble, those responsible for those books being there would be better off having a large millstone hung around their neck and being thrown into the depths of the sea.
There is a higher standard and a higher calling.
The higher standard is certainly not abandoning all standards completely out of fear of being called a “bigot, homophobe, book-burning Nazi.”
What’s right is not always popular and what’s popular is not always right. These individuals who are allowing books like these to remain in the libraries are failing not just kids and communities, they’re failing God.
Now, back to the issue at hand. Whether someone is a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew or an atheist, there are certain behaviors and certain things that we would not want to be promoted in books in a public library in works targeting kids.
There must be room for community standards and concern for the true common good. We should never apologize for having standards. Now is not the time to submit or give up. Now is the time to find out who we can count on in these battles that actually matter.
We know the Democrats cannot be counted on in this fight. But I think we’re learning there are fewer Republicans we can count on as well. If we’re truly to the point where people who don’t want photos or images or cartoons of minors engaging in sexual activities to be in public and school libraries are in the wrong, then we’re in big, big, big, big trouble.
We may be trying to protect standards that simply do not exist anymore. Duty, though, is ours. Results are God’s.
