Read responsibly
27 Sep 2009 4 Comments
in Books, Life, Thoughts Tags: Banned Books Week
My wife & I recently discussed the impact of The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s controversial 2003 novel concerning the Holy Grail legend and Mary Magdalene’s role in the history of Christianity. Her point was that Brown’s book can be considered deleterious in that it causes Christians to doubt the teachings of the Church and question their faith. The author should be held responsible for the damage his book has done. My response was that intellectual freedom is of paramount importance. The artist must be free to express his thoughts and the public to experience them. Our debate soon centered on the concept of responsibility: Should artists be held responsible for the psychic impact of their creations? Does an artist’s freedom to convey ideas absolve him from the impact art has upon the viewer? Or should freedom be balanced with responsibility? Most would agree that shouting Fire! in a crowded theater is an irresponsible act. What about printing cartoon images of the prophet Muhammad? Where do you draw the line between the freedom to express and experience artworks, and responsibility for the results of such expression?
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Banned Books Week (BBW): Celebrating the Freedom to Read is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.
Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.
The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.
As the Intellectual Freedom Manual (ALA, 7th edition) states:
Intellectual freedom can exist only where two essential conditions are met: first, that all individuals have the right to hold any belief on any subject and to convey their ideas in any form they deem appropriate; and second, that society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and receiver of information. Freedom to express oneself through a chosen mode of communication, including the Internet, becomes virtually meaningless if access to that information is not protected. Intellectual freedom implies a circle, and that circle is broken if either freedom of expression or access to ideas is stifled.
Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
Related link: Banned Books Week adopts author’s anti-censorship poem as manifesto
Sep 27, 2009 @ 20:56:19
In my opinion It’s a good thing for Christians (and all followers of whatever religion) to doubt the teachings of the church (synagogue/mosk/every Holy House) and question their faith. Religion should be questioned, period. Don’t gobble down what the “teacher” says.
All religions are hijacked (mostly by men). They have stopped us from living from the heart and made us slaves of what THEY tell us to be the TRUTH, which is that we are ALL ONE, because we come from THE ONE (the Source of Love and Compassion). The art is to discover that the other is not just a brother; the other is ourself. The Mayan said: In La’kesh. “You are another me”.
The Asians say: Nameste, meaning: “I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One” . That is what religion/truth is.
Religion is however used to control the masses, to keep them calm/brainless…and to teach them to believe in a better place after we die: the next life, paradise/heaven. BUT what we should be doing is making life in this place better, not only for ourselves, but for everyone else too!
The very core of EVERY religion and each holy book, is to see ourself in another. That message alas, is not lived by us. If we start doing that, we should never end up in disagreements and the extreme form: war and suppression.
True religion, comes from deep within, from our heart. We end up in getting totally lost in the stories of our ego, which is in fact a charade. I digress… I know. Just a few words that just came to mind… when reading about “teachings of the church and faith”.
1st rule in the game: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Sep 27, 2009 @ 22:18:05
The Da Vinci Code is a piece of fiction, a badly written one, at that. Unfortunately, the power of the written word is that if it is written or engraved it therefore is Truth. All throughout history, the have been many examples of Iconoclasm, where previously lauded and believed images and words have received a treatment of erasure or defacing – in order to cleanse the world of “old beliefs”, thereby making space for new ones. The mass burning of books in the Nazi Era in Germany is a more recent example of this, however wrongly motivated. That was a huge act of censorship, both symbolic and actual.
What banning of books makes happen is that forbidden materials take on an underground existence. In my own family home, in the 60s in Canada, my parents had a copy of every banned book of that period, which copies they acquired from friends overseas. I grew up reading bannned books, and as a result am far from being ruined by the experience, and am today completely against censorship of books. The canny reader always questions the veracity of material contained in print, whether of newspapers or other published materials. The opportunity for healthy discussion and examination of issues is important and, in my opinion should be promoted.
On the other hand, I did use the Dan Brown book as fire-starter in my fireplace. Lightning did not strike me dead. G
Sep 28, 2009 @ 03:31:58
While I believe the Davinci Code is a tad irresponsible, the idea of questioning religious belief is healthy. It creates debate and discussion and enlightens us a society. Any society that would condone the banning of any reading regardless of how inflammatory i.e. teachings of the KKK, is more harmful then what was written…great post insightful…zman sends
Sep 28, 2009 @ 06:48:30
I have to add again that I think the purpose of faith is to be tested. It is easy to have faith when there is no one to tell you that you are wrong. However, it is not so easy to do when someone is in your face telling you that your faith is useless. Many people need to find the way to their own faith through trial and introspection.
The Da Vinci Code in all of its historical-turned-pop-cultureness (which I agree is a pretty bad work of writing) doesn’t actually question faith; it questions the actions of an serveral organizations’ actions. The Church from the beginning has been an organization of individuals who presented and interpreted their faith to the masses, and who, much later, agreed on an amalgamation of those interpretations, discarding many aspects that were indeed valid to many other followers. It is ultimately this disclusion that the Da Vinci Code questions. Not faith. It questions the actions of The Church, not faith.
If anything, faith is ever-present to the characters of the story – especially those that are not the ‘faithful.’ The main character must deal with the idea that he is being presented physical evidence of the actual events and people connected to the events. He can prove truth and gain faith in his own way of validation – scientific proofs, essentially questioning his own ‘faith’ in facts and presenting him with a tangible to connection to something more spiritual.
While I’m not a fan of the book – I do think it has done a very important and vital service to many people – it has made them work for their faith rather than take it for granted.