Should Parents Ban Books?

A Patrick Henry College graduate, now writing for The American Conservative, recently penned this thoughtful post on whether Christian parents should "ban" books:  http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2014/04/28/should-christian-parents-ban-books/

I put "ban" in quotation marks because the term itself it inherently pejorative. You remember when Sarah Palin was accused of trying to "ban" a couple of library books in Alaska? This was an effective way to perpetuate the idea that she was a backwards, unsophisticated fundamentalist.

In our age of freedom-without-borders, we equate the banning of books, even within the private confines of a home, with the burning of books. A parent who exercises discretion over what her pre-teen reads is treated like the firefighters in Fahrenheit 451, whose primary purpose is to set fire to books. This was considered one of the great symbolic marks of a tyrannical society.

And of course, there's the famous line from 19th century German poet, Heinrich Heine, "Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn people as well." His chilling line seemed particularly validated by Hitler's ovens.

But the private banning of books is not the public burning of books. In fact, we all privately ban books to a certain extent by making sure that our children are educated. In an age of constant information overload, we need to be selective in the books we read and that our children read.

We do not want our children reading Fifty Shades of Gray for example, when that time would be better spent on To Kill A Mockingbird or Harry Potter (or really, anything that is not pornographic).

What criteria might a parent use to prioritize what their children read, and how such books are read? Here is my off-the-cuff breakdown:

Recommended for Independent Reading. There are certain books that require minimal parental involvement and accountability. For example, books that are spiritually edifying (and reinforce the child's worldview), historical classics, and uncontroversial "rabbit trail" books. Perhaps my child would like to learn more about prayer--I will hand him A Praying Life by Paul Miller. Is he interested in a great adventure? Perhaps The Odyssey will do. If he gets hooked on a book series, say, The Hardy Boys, I will continue to feed him those books, one at a time (as long as he is not neglecting his school work). I can hand these off and let my child own his reading experience.

Recommended with Parental Involvement. All books will require some involvement, as a child will inevitably have questions. If he reads Huckleberry Finn, for example, I would need to explain to him why we don't use the N-word today. But I think the primary books that fit into this category are quality works of pop culture, which require critical engagement. Take Harry Potter, which is the great young adult fiction of our time. It won't necessarily reinforce my child's worldview (nor will it necessarily detract from it), but I should read it with my child in order to critically engage it with a biblically informed worldview. In the battle of good versus evil, why do we root for the good? Why do you think Harry is sometimes disrespectful toward authority figures? What makes Harry's self-sacrifice so meaningful?

Not Recommended, but Permissible. Children to varying degrees are intellectually curious. They may want to read Nietzche or Freud, The Golden Compass or something similar. These books have the potential to be destructive, but they should probably not be forbidden. They are not entirely destructive, to the extent that they are worth engaging. They can even be helpful in understanding culture. For example, Nietzche's famous statement that "God is dead" comes at the end of a train of various philosophical and cultural movements, many involving the Church, that inform our understanding of the culture and of the Church (i.e., if we treat Jesus as merely an experience that fulfills all of our felt needs, it is a lot easier to lump Jesus in with the Easter Bunny and proclaim Him dead). The key for these books is that parents accompany their child at every step of this more perilous literary journey.

Not Permissible. There must always be that line where we declare "You shall not pass." Pornography, for one, is overwhelming the younger generations of American society. It used to be very hard for boys and girls to get their hands upon it, but now it takes a few clicks of a mouse. For boys, pornography tends to make more visual forms. For girls, more story-based (i.e., Fifty Shades). Yet girls are becoming much more physically wired as they become more exposed to the internet. Knowing the hormonal nature of our youth and their need to be slowly guided into making wise and responsible decisions, we have a certain obligation to protect them. A number of youth novels--often based on TV shows like Pretty Little Liars are in essence, soft pornography. We want to carefully nurture the seeds of true love in our children's hearts, not the pale imitations offered as entertainment today. For girls, why not Pride and Prejudice? For boys, The Princess Bride.

We must recognize as well that there is no book like the Bible, which offers divinely inspired narratives, poetry, and proverbs of wisdom. This book is not only great literature, it is God-breathed, and thus not only fills the mind but the heart and soul as well. Because it is God's very Word, it transforms the reader, making him wise unto salvation and equipping him for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17). In the Bible, we don't simply meet a cast of amusing characters--we meet the risen Christ, who offers Himself to us in the beauty of His grace and saving work. We are to meditate on His Word day and night (Josh. 1), for it is the power of God for all who believe (Rom. 1).