How about Abby Hoffman's "Steal This Book"?

or am I just proving how old I am?

You're right, Cindy...it is not porn. But on the other hand, I can see why any adult...including a teacher...might be concerned:



“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.” Leviticus 20-13


"Slaves, male and female, you may indeed possess, provided you BUY them from among the neighboring nations. You may also BUY them from among the aliens who reside with you and from their children who are born and reared in your land. Such slaves YOU MAY OWN AS CHATTELS, and leave to your sons as their hereditary property, MAKING THEM PERPETUAL SLAVES. But you shall not lord it harshly over any of the Israelites, your kinsmen." Leviticus 25:44ff

"If a man has a stubborn and unruly son who will not listen to
his father or mother, and will not obey them even though they
chastise him, his father and mother shall have him apprehended
and brought out to the elders at the gate of his home city, where
...his fellow citizens shall stone him to death." Deuteronomy 22:18ff

"When you march up to attack a city, first offer terms of peace.
If it agrees to your terms of peace and opens its gates to you,
all the people to be found in it shall serve you in forced labor.
But if it refuses to make peace with you and instead offers you
battle, lay siege to it, and when the Lord, your God, delivers it
into your hand, put every male in it to the sword, but the women
and children and livestock and all else in it that is worth
plunder you may take as your booty and you may use this plunder
of your enemies which the Lord, your God, has given you." Deuteronomy 20:10

"I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishments
for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate
me, down to the third and fourth generation." Deuteronomy 5:9

"Therefore, he who has any of the following defects may not come
forward: he who is blind, or lame, or who has any disfigurement
or malformation, or crippled foot or hand....he may not approach
the veil nor go up to the altar on account of these defects; he
shall not profane these things that are sacred to me, for it is
I, the Lord, who make them sacred." Leviticus 21:18ff

They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. [2 Chronicles 15:12-13]


If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst. [Deuteronomy 13:7-12]


Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. "The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him." [Deuteronomy 13:13-19]


The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: 'Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.' [Exodus 31:12-15]



One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD's name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother's name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put the man in custody until the LORD's will in the matter should become clear. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished. Anyone who blasphemes the LORD's name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD's name will surely die. [Leviticus 24:10-16]


For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. [Matthew 15:4-7]

The teacher might have a program for ensuring that kids progress in their reading. She might expect growing capabilities to analyze theme and plot. If that's the case, the bible may well be an inappropriate choice.

There are all sorts of bibles and some kids' bibles are written at a pretty low level. My kids have free reading, but it is moderated, with inappropriate books not allowed. It could be inappropriate for all sorts of reasons.

Oh man. Great stuff. Just in time for the holidays. The parents of this kid should meet the parents of the crucified Jesus drawing kid in MA. What a world, what a world. Thanks for the post.

Of course there really is a simple way to figure this out. Send a kid to school with a copy of the Quran, and one with the Communist Manifesto. If the same teacher bans those books as well, then okay, no problem, but if she allows those books then we have a problem that needs to be investigated more deeply

Sorry the teacher was dead wrong and the school system could be open for a law suit because it infringed on the child's constitutional rights. The time was free reading time the student picked something they wanted to read. It was not state mandated they had to read the Bible or any other religious material therefore it was not a case of separation of church and state. School children have a constitutional right to exercise their religious and political beliefs, as well as exercising free speech. Students may also create bible clubs, speak freely about their faith, and even proselytize other students, as long as the school system is not instigating it there is no violation of church and state. This goes for any religion not just Christianity.

Granted some teachers try and impose their own religious views and some are hostile to the idea of faith, but those are rare. Most teachers do not know just what is allowed or not and it is the responsibility of the school system to instruct them to avoid problems like this.

The school apologized and if the teacher was acting out of ignorance not malice an apology should be enough for most reasonable parents. But, these are not reasonable times anymore. Everything is hyper sensitive and the slightest infraction ends up on the news or in court. One mistake and each side wants their pound of flesh.

It's a sign of our times. All books are allowable, EXCEPT The Bible. My guess is that if the child WAS reading a Koran the teacher would not have said a peep. Don't want to upset the Muslims after all. The Christians though? Open season.

I don't think the bible is primary school appropriate. If it is... then oh boy... we can bring all sorts of rated R materials into kindergarten!

What kind of free reading is done at Catholic or other religious schools? I'll bet it isn't the bible or the Koran or whatever. Public education is so dysfunctional now that teachers are reprimanded more than the students! I'm on the side of the teacher. When you have a nation with a Creationist Museum, anti-intellectualism, and the treatment of the bible as a history book, it's only the teachers who can steer a student toward richer thought and wide subject matter.

DJohn: Yeah, yeah, the poor poor persecuted Christians. It's practically a requirement for high-level politicians to at least *pretend* to be Christians, people attack the President by calling him a secret Muslim, and the MediaCorp relies on the right-wing subset of Christians to define "family values", but you're all sooooo very persecuted.

Eleven of the twelve apostles were *martyred* -- stoned, beaten, flayed alive, crucified, or just hung by the neck until dead. The twelfth, John, managed survive being attacked with boiling oil. Two thousand years later some teacher screws up and immediately apologizes, and people like you are all shaking in your shoes.

This story gets to me. Makes me wonder if the teacher was set up so the parents could run to Fox News. There are 2 books I carry around and read a lot. The Way of Buddha and Imitation of Christ. I dislike stories like this because these kind of stories make anyone who might be into reading the bible or reading other spiritual texts, look ridiculous or worse. This is a real mountain out of a mole hill story...very frustrating.

Yes, Cindy - and it should have remained a typical day. I hope that is the point you were trying to make. What happened to common sense?

I think everyone involved is in the wrong.

The teacher should not have just taken the child's book away. The kid wasn't reading out loud or trying to get others to read along. She was reading quietly during free reading time. If the teacher had just let the child keep reading we wouldn’t be hearing about this. It wasn't a big deal in the classroom until the teacher made it a big deal. If the teacher was so concerned she should've gone to a school administrator and asked them. Or maybe pulled the kid quietly aside and explain why they’re not allowed to bring that book to school. Or explain to the parents why the Bible is not allowed in class.

(Do teachers have no discretion nowadays? It seems every school story is about a teacher who uses a student to set an example that goes horribly wrong. It's not a dig against teachers, and I'm sure there are a lot of other factors I'm not aware of, but it seems like all these stories are about teachers freaking out instead of taking the child aside or talking to them after class about what they did wrong. I know teachers have it hard and I don't envy them one bit. I guess it's just the awful teachers that make the news. How often do read a news story about how a child passed a test because a teacher took extra time out of the day to help that child study?)

The parents are also wrong for going to Fox News. This isn't a matter for national news. The parents seem to be overreacting attention seekers. The teacher was wrong and the school apologized. There. It's all done. But no, the parents feel they deserve tell "their story". Everyone has a story, and most of them aren't that interesting. People need to learn when to just shut up and move on with their lives. Not make it into a national scandal. Their child is not a religious martyr, just a kid who wanted to read the bible during free-reading time.

Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the King James Version Bible: equally fictitious literary works that ought be allowed in the schools!

Drama then the teacher (who is steering someone away from their faith) is violating the idea of the government is neutral in the whole matter of religious belief. Neither promoting or prohibiting. What a person including a teacher thinks of God, faith or religion is their personal view and should not be forced on others. Since teachers have the backing of the authority of the government and are governmental employees means they cannot use their position to degrade, hinder, promote or sway students in matters of religious beliefs. To do so is a violation of the separation of Church and state.

Catholic or any other private school is not bound by the same laws or the constitution. It is totally apples and oranges. Public schools are government schools, private schools are non government and therefor can teach according to their faith. It is called freedom of religion.

We should absolutely let kids read the bible anytime they want to - that is how I learned to run away! run away! from christianity as fast as possible. All those logical contradictions and hypocrisies taught me everything I needed to know about that religion. Though some of the Jesus stuff was pretty good - not that most Christians actually follow his teachings or anything.

Exactly, Cindy. Having covered school districts we both know people can go cuckoo-nutsy when it comes to their kids. No matter what the teacher did in that situation she could have been hammered - had she simply let the kid keep reading, the parents of one of the non-Judeo-Christians in the class (and this is Jersey, so there were almost certainly Muslim-Hindu-Buddhist-atheist etc. kids ) might have complained, and then the poor teacher would have caught hell from the other direction.
So what'll happen now? Fox "News" will do its usual: ignore the nuance, demonize the well-meaning school officials (who are constrained from defending themselves because of confidentiality laws) and pretend that some grade-school teacher pulling down $40K a year is some kind of radical-liberal militant bent on turning "our" children into atheists. That's why there's a special place in hell for O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh and the other cynical hatemongers who stoke public anger just because they want another 20 mil on top of the 200 mil they've already got.
Phew. Done now.

WOW! Brian B (comment #1) wouldn't have even known what was in the Bible unless he read it. I guess he is arguing for the appropriateness of reading the Bible. Or maybe he's not? I'm a bit confused. Should we promote greater ignorance in the upcoming generation of Americans. That doesn't sound like good education to me.

Furthermore, it is clear that Brian B has not read the New Testament, or any theology in the history of Christianity. There is a consensus on why the Lord called the church to destroy their enemies in the Old Testament, and not in the New. Even a cursory reading of the New Testament and a brief consideration of theological works from Augustine onward would reveal the answer. This is not good scholarship at all.

My deepest apologies. All my comments were a response to Frank Apisa, not Brian B.

The teacher should have informed the child that the Bible is in fact boring free-time reading material. Rated.

If it had been any other religious book, the ACLU would have been there in a half hour. The religious texts of all major religions are historically significant, influencing about 90% of the world's population.

M Todd: There are legitimate reasons why a teacher may have objected to the bible that had nothing to do with its content or status as a religious book.

Free reading may be a time when kids choose a book, but in any decent program, the teacher monitors them to make sure the kid is neither trying to read something too difficult nor too easy. That the kid is reading and comprehending a range of texts, fiction and non-fiction.

And as for allowing kids to proselytize, fine, as long as it doesn't turn into harassment.

Cindy:

Stupid teacher, crazy parents. Can't improve on that summary. These days, it often seems there's no middle ground when it comes to religion. Whether you're pro or con, you're on the barricades, preparing to repel the Other who will mess civilization up for everyone. They say fistfights broke out at the Council of Nicaea; reading stories like these, I find no room to doubt it.

Brian B: A nuanced understanding of the Bible comes with time and many, many re-readings. Let the kid start somewhere, huh?

Yep, seems like folks lives are not worth living unless it is filmed and on the six o'clock news.

Malusinka, and I if it came to an all out fight in the court the constitutional rights of the child would outweigh the "reasons or concerns" of the teacher.

The bottom line is the Bible unlike any other book is considered a cornerstone of the Christian faith and preventing someone even a student from reading it in their own free time would be a violation of their constitutional rights. The point about proselytizing was that a student is not part of the government and therefore protected by free speech. Of course free speech or religious freedom does not extend to harassment which would considered a violation of the other student's rights.

Teachers do not wheel unrestrained authority in the classroom. Nor do they have the right to belittle or questions a student's faith. That goes for any faith not just the Christian faith. The government is to be neutral - neither promoting or hindering. Nor does the teacher have the right to push their faith on a student.

M Todd:
My point was that most "free reading" time is not free time. The students get to pick a book (as opposed to the whole class reading the same thing) but the books are supposed to further their learning, increase their vocabularies, ability to comprehend increasingly sophisticated texts, and analyze and compare plot and structure.

I don't know enough about this case, but I can easily believe that the teacher had legitimate concerns related to the kid's reading matter that had NOTHING, may I repeat, NOTHING to do with the bible's religious content or status as a cornerstone of the Christian faith.

Reading time is not recess (when any kid can sit in a corner and read her bible). It is part of the educational process.

so happy to see a spirited debate going, with so many opinions. (and look -- xmas deals spammers too!)

opinions are one thing, but the law's the law. M Todd gets it, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on it. Teacher was wrong, but it's not a case for a Law & Order special. Though depending on how determined the parents are, it could well end being just that. Or, as JK said, a reality show. yes, Duaneart, what happened to common sense?

fox news is the scourge of the earth

Malusinka, Since I don't know what the stated objectives are for the free reading time I can't what the intent was. It may be just so the teacher has free time to balance her checkbook. It was never stated other than free reading time and the child had the choice to select the book.

The Bible as a book has the same elements as any other book. It is a history of a people, it has both social and moral themes such as freedom, oppression, faithfulness, unfaithfulness, truth, love, hate, and the whole range of human conditions. So just from a book stand point it has just as much to offer as Harry Potter, To kill a Mocking Bird, War and Peace, etc.

If the choice was up to the child as to what they read then this teacher singling out the Bible as inappropriate would be a violation of the freedom of choice and regardless of the child's Constitutional rights.

Despite the disadvantages of being born white and christian, the young girl's parents will fight for equal treatment. The mother was quoted saying "we shall overcome".

"Teachers do not wheel unrestrained authority in the classroom." Nope, but I wheel my mom around in the nursing home...

gad, more exciting fuel for Christian crybabies...and I'm not talking about the kid (whom I feel sorry for). And those who think the Bible is the only book this would happen to...get real, censorship is alive and well, and a classroom should not be confused with a public library in the first place! On second thought, get wheel!
Wated.