A local church is urging its members to permanently remove books from the Shelby County Public Library by checking them out and never returning them. The books portray gay characters and historical figures or explore LGBTQ+ themes.
Pamela Wilson Federspiel, who has been director of the library in downtown Shelbyville for 34 years, says the action is tantamount to “stealing.”
But three leaders of the Reformation Church of Shelbyville defend what they call an “act of civil disobedience.”
I think they are saying that civil disobedience is seperate from criminal disobedience. Which theft is criminal.
So protesting by standing on the sidewalk, civil disobedience; protesting in the middle of the street in a place with laws against, would be criminal disobedience.
In this case theft was clearly criminal.