Canadian Catholic School Board Bans Fantasy Novel

There’s one thing in this world that really makes me cringe: the banning of books! Whether a book is banned for insulting a particular belief system (usually religion), or because it contains too much violence, and there’s the always infamous "this book should be banned because it contains too much sex!"

Many people mistakingly think that banning books is a thing of the past. No one would dare ban a book in today’s enlightened age. Guess what? It still happens. Even books that most of us consider to be classics are banned. Contemporary books are banned as well. No book is safe from the elusive Big Bad Book Censor.

And sadly, there is one more case of a book being banned in the name of religion. The Canadian website globeandmail.com reports that the Calgary Catholic school board decided to ban The Golden Compass, a bestselling children’s fantasy novel that is being released as a movie (which also has Christians in the US all bothered as well). So why would they ban such a book? Here’s one explanation:

"Our children are exposed to a wide range of information," said board spokeswoman Judy Mackay. "One of our responsibilities is to help them understand how that fits with their belief system and to equip them with the skills so that they understand how they can fit that into their own belief system."

Translation: The book goes against our belief system so we don’t want any of our children reading it, lest they become influenced by a work of fiction, leave the church and spend their lives worshiping the devil while eating cute little puppy dogs. Okay, maybe that goes a little too far. But you see my point!

Seriously though, wouldn’t it be a better idea to let the kids read the book and then compare and contrast belief systems and…here’s a shocker….let the kids develop their own opinions! However, nothing in the article made me cry out in pain more than this:

The Halton Catholic board in Ontario announced a couple of weeks ago that it also would not distribute December’s Scholastic book flyers because The Golden Compass is available for order.

Please don’t take away the Scholastic book flyer! I remember getting that flyer when I was a kid and I loved looking at all the books it offered, carefully making my selections, and then anxiously awaiting the day when our goods would arrive. It was one of the highlights of my childhood! Yes, I was a bookworm even at a young age.

The one redeeming part of this entire article is the very last paragraph, in which a Catholic Bishop denounces banning the book:

Calgary Bishop Fred Henry said there are more pressing issues facing Catholics than debating a children’s fantasy novel.

I agree and applaud the Bishop for stating what the rest of us are already thinking. There are so many more important issues facing Catholics and the world-at-large that it seems silly that a children’s fantasy novel be the subject of so much scrutiny.

Nevertheless, banning books usually backfires. Whenever anything is banned, it takes on a "forbidden fruit" aura and people end up wanting to get their hands on it more to see what the big deal is. As a result of banned books, libraries and other literary organizations are actively promoting books that have been banned throughout history, and even the books that have been banned recently.

I haven’t even scratched the surface about why banning books is a bad thing. But in closing I’ll only say that many books appear to be banned out of fear; fear for what they might reveal to the reader and fear that others might just think differently.

Calgary Catholic school board dumps Golden Compass

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Read More: Censorship, Literary News, Reading