California charter school pulls Christian books, authors from their shelves
A California charter school is underfire for pulling several books from their library which contained Christian content or were written by Christian authors. The Pacific Justice Institute has called this act a violation of the First Amendment and “alarming.”
The superintendent of Springs Charter School Kathleen Hermsmeyer replied to a cease-and-desist letter from PJI lawyer Michael Peffer : “We do not allow sectarian materials on our state-authorized lending shelves.”
The school, which is stated to be “created and operated by parents” according to its “Vision and Mission” page on its website, also outlines, “We value parent choice and involvement, using the community as the classroom, fostering a child’s innate creativity, collaborating to achieve goals, building relationships, and personalizing learning.”
PJI says that they were contacted by a concerned parent whose children attend the school, who noted that books such as The Hiding Place, written by Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom, were being removed from the shelves.
The PJI reported that they will be sending a public records request to the district.
PJI President Brad Dacus said: “It is alarming that a school library would attempt to purge books from religious authors. Indeed, some of the greatest literature of Western Civilization comes from people of faith. Are they going to ban the sermons or speeches of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? What about the Declaration of Independence that invokes the laws of nature and nature’s God? We are calling on Springs Charter Schools to immediately reverse their ill-conceived and illegal book-banning policy.”