Critics say bans would hinder rights as proponents would impose their beliefs on others who don’t share their views

Summary

Rightwing groups across the US are driving a wave of legislation to restrict books in school and public libraries, targeting content deemed “sexually explicit” or “obscene,” often affecting LGBTQ+ and race-related titles.

Texas leads with 31 bills and 538 book bans in the 2023–24 school year.

Proposed laws, like Texas Senate Bill 13, shift book selection power from librarians to parent-led advisory boards.

Critics, including librarians and legal scholars, warn these efforts amount to censorship, risk violating First Amendment rights, and reduce access in underserved communities.

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.world
    6·
    2 days ago

    Abraham had sex with his (wife’s) slave Hagar to produce Ishmael – and both Hagar and Ishmael were then exiled after Abraham was able to conceive with his wife and produce Isaac.

    Certainly not the kind of values I’d want for my family.

        • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
          1·
          2 days ago

          There’s no specific verse condemning it explicitly, but the overall arc of Abraham’s story is that whenever he tries to be “clever” and fulfill God’s promise on his own there are bad consequences, in this case the soured relationship between Hagar and Sarah, the need of God’s intervention to save his son from death in the desert, and the origin of yet another people that would later antagonize the Israelites, the Arabs.