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Cal Thomas. Book Burning. Crossway, 1983.
Cal Thomas is a conservative syndicated columnist. In 1983, he was the communications director of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority.
I first learned of this book as a teenager, when I was reading books in the Opposing Viewpoints series. The Opposing Viewpoints series featured articles from different perspectives, right and left. One of the books, “Censorship,” had a predictable article criticizing right-wing censors, as it discussed the 1970’s textbook protests in Kanawha County. Is that not what enters many people’s minds when they hear “censorship”: the religious right? But then the book included an article alleging that the left, too, practices censorship. This article was an excerpt from Cal Thomas’s Book Burning.
Book Burning undertakes four tasks.
First, Thomas explains why freedom of speech is important. In fact, Thomas regards it as a Christian virtue. He summarizes John Milton’s Christian defense of it, favoring it over John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian defense. People need not fear exposure to competing ideas, Thomas argues, for only those who lack confidence in their own ideas desire to censor other ideas. Thomas prefers to ground freedom of speech in theism rather than utilitarianism because utilitarianism lacks a solid basis for morality, making free speech merely a good idea that could become dispensable; theism, by contrast, regards free speech as a God-given right. Thomas supports diverse ideas in public libraries, akin to the Fairness Doctrine that existed for radio and television.
Second, Thomas defends the Moral Majority against the charge of censorship. As Thomas points out, not every right-wing troublemaker who tries to censor a book officially represents the Moral Majority! But Thomas also sifts through right-wing rhetoric and activity to distinguish what is legitimate from what is wrongheaded. As far as Thomas is concerned, a book should not be censored just because it contains illicit sex and violence, for sin is a part of life. But a book that is appropriate for a teenager or an adult may not be appropriate for children, who may lack the critical faculties to evaluate what they are reading. Thomas also distances himself from the right-wing nostalgia for the days of the Founding Fathers: Thomas does not want to go back to those days, but he would like to see religion and traditional values at least acknowledged in public libraries, public schools, and the media.
Third, Thomas argues that the left engages in censorship. References to the traditional family, traditional gender roles, and Christianity are omitted from public school textbooks, even though many Americans embrace these things. Book reviewers, public libraries, bookstores, and the New York Times’s bestseller list marginalize or ignore Christian books, even though Christian books outsell some of the books that they do choose to acknowledge. The national news media is baffled by evangelicalism, as when Jimmy Carter claimed to be “born again.” And movies and TV programs fail to depict Christianity positively, choosing instead to depict Christians as hypocrites or as nutcases.
Fourth, Thomas offers advice on what conservative Christians can do. This includes becoming part of the system so as to influence it from the inside, but also challenging the system from the outside.
On whether Thomas’s concerns are still relevant thirty-seven years later, my answer is “yes” and “no.” On the “yes” side, children are exposed to sex and violence at an early age, through television and the Internet. The entertainment media promote acts of which Thomas and conservative Christians disapprove, such as homosexuality and premarital and extramarital sex, at a more intense level than was the case when Thomas wrote this book. Not only traditional gender roles, but also the very concept of gender, have been challenged. On the “no” side, religion has become more included in the mainstream media. TV shows and movies, even outside of Christian media, have explored the spiritual side of life in a sympathetic manner. Religious books, even conservative Christian ones, are included on the New York Times’s bestseller list.
This book is a thoughtful defense of free speech from a Christian conservative perspective. I have four critiques, though.
First, I could not recognize Thomas’s allegation that public libraries and bookstores marginalize or ignore Christianity. Perhaps that is because I grew up in the Bible Belt, where Christian and conservative books filled the shelves of public libraries and bookstores. I recall even seeing some of the titles that Thomas recommends (donated by the local right-to-life group).
Second, Thomas seems to conflate public schools teaching children about religion with public schools promoting religion. The former is fine; the latter, legally-speaking, is a no-no. I recall a liberal social studies teacher I had who included a unit on religions. He asked if what he was doing was legal, and he replied “yes”: he is allowed to educate students about different religions, since religion is a part of life, but it is wrong for him to try to encourage his students to convert to Judaism. Thomas, at least in this book, fails to recognize that line, for he responds to the removal of religious rituals from public schools by saying that religion is a part of life and thus should be studied.
Third, related to the above item, there is some ambiguity in Thomas’s book about where he wants Christianity to be in the American system. Does he support pluralism, in which Christianity is appreciated and acknowledged among a diverse array of viewpoints? Or does he want Christianity to have a more prominent and dominant role? He points out, after all, that Christianity is a part of America’s heritage.
Fourth, Thomas’s discussion of the Christian basis for free speech perhaps would have been stronger had he addressed censorship in the Bible, which the Bible endorses. There is not much tolerance in the Bible for idolatry, for idolaters are to be killed. So much for freedom of speech and religion.
Cal Thomas is a conservative syndicated columnist. In 1983, he was the communications director of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority.
I first learned of this book as a teenager, when I was reading books in the Opposing Viewpoints series. The Opposing Viewpoints series featured articles from different perspectives, right and left. One of the books, “Censorship,” had a predictable article criticizing right-wing censors, as it discussed the 1970’s textbook protests in Kanawha County. Is that not what enters many people’s minds when they hear “censorship”: the religious right? But then the book included an article alleging that the left, too, practices censorship. This article was an excerpt from Cal Thomas’s Book Burning.
Book Burning undertakes four tasks.
First, Thomas explains why freedom of speech is important. In fact, Thomas regards it as a Christian virtue. He summarizes John Milton’s Christian defense of it, favoring it over John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian defense. People need not fear exposure to competing ideas, Thomas argues, for only those who lack confidence in their own ideas desire to censor other ideas. Thomas prefers to ground freedom of speech in theism rather than utilitarianism because utilitarianism lacks a solid basis for morality, making free speech merely a good idea that could become dispensable; theism, by contrast, regards free speech as a God-given right. Thomas supports diverse ideas in public libraries, akin to the Fairness Doctrine that existed for radio and television.
Second, Thomas defends the Moral Majority against the charge of censorship. As Thomas points out, not every right-wing troublemaker who tries to censor a book officially represents the Moral Majority! But Thomas also sifts through right-wing rhetoric and activity to distinguish what is legitimate from what is wrongheaded. As far as Thomas is concerned, a book should not be censored just because it contains illicit sex and violence, for sin is a part of life. But a book that is appropriate for a teenager or an adult may not be appropriate for children, who may lack the critical faculties to evaluate what they are reading. Thomas also distances himself from the right-wing nostalgia for the days of the Founding Fathers: Thomas does not want to go back to those days, but he would like to see religion and traditional values at least acknowledged in public libraries, public schools, and the media.
Third, Thomas argues that the left engages in censorship. References to the traditional family, traditional gender roles, and Christianity are omitted from public school textbooks, even though many Americans embrace these things. Book reviewers, public libraries, bookstores, and the New York Times’s bestseller list marginalize or ignore Christian books, even though Christian books outsell some of the books that they do choose to acknowledge. The national news media is baffled by evangelicalism, as when Jimmy Carter claimed to be “born again.” And movies and TV programs fail to depict Christianity positively, choosing instead to depict Christians as hypocrites or as nutcases.
Fourth, Thomas offers advice on what conservative Christians can do. This includes becoming part of the system so as to influence it from the inside, but also challenging the system from the outside.
On whether Thomas’s concerns are still relevant thirty-seven years later, my answer is “yes” and “no.” On the “yes” side, children are exposed to sex and violence at an early age, through television and the Internet. The entertainment media promote acts of which Thomas and conservative Christians disapprove, such as homosexuality and premarital and extramarital sex, at a more intense level than was the case when Thomas wrote this book. Not only traditional gender roles, but also the very concept of gender, have been challenged. On the “no” side, religion has become more included in the mainstream media. TV shows and movies, even outside of Christian media, have explored the spiritual side of life in a sympathetic manner. Religious books, even conservative Christian ones, are included on the New York Times’s bestseller list.
This book is a thoughtful defense of free speech from a Christian conservative perspective. I have four critiques, though.
First, I could not recognize Thomas’s allegation that public libraries and bookstores marginalize or ignore Christianity. Perhaps that is because I grew up in the Bible Belt, where Christian and conservative books filled the shelves of public libraries and bookstores. I recall even seeing some of the titles that Thomas recommends (donated by the local right-to-life group).
Second, Thomas seems to conflate public schools teaching children about religion with public schools promoting religion. The former is fine; the latter, legally-speaking, is a no-no. I recall a liberal social studies teacher I had who included a unit on religions. He asked if what he was doing was legal, and he replied “yes”: he is allowed to educate students about different religions, since religion is a part of life, but it is wrong for him to try to encourage his students to convert to Judaism. Thomas, at least in this book, fails to recognize that line, for he responds to the removal of religious rituals from public schools by saying that religion is a part of life and thus should be studied.
Third, related to the above item, there is some ambiguity in Thomas’s book about where he wants Christianity to be in the American system. Does he support pluralism, in which Christianity is appreciated and acknowledged among a diverse array of viewpoints? Or does he want Christianity to have a more prominent and dominant role? He points out, after all, that Christianity is a part of America’s heritage.
Fourth, Thomas’s discussion of the Christian basis for free speech perhaps would have been stronger had he addressed censorship in the Bible, which the Bible endorses. There is not much tolerance in the Bible for idolatry, for idolaters are to be killed. So much for freedom of speech and religion.
