Have you ever heard those "scare stories" of how believers will one day have
most of their books banned by overreaching zealots? Normally, Christians think
"well, I can see that coming down the line, when Christianity is outlawed in
this country and Christians have to hide underground. Today, in countries
like China, such things go on all the time, but in most Western nations we
believe that we're decades away from such actions. Well, that time has
arrived.

The New York Times recently reported that earlier this year the U.S. Federal
Bureau of Prisons have banned most religious texts from all its chapel
libraries. According to the Times, the chaplains were instructed to "the
shelves of any books, tapes, CDs and videos that are not on a list of approved
resources." The goal, according to BOP spokesperson Traci Billingsley is
to deny access to materials that may "discriminate, disparage, advocate violence
or radicalize."

Immediately, my reaction is one of amazement. Limiting access to
thousands of titles of religious literature in case a title may incite terrorism
or violence? I understand that the Department of Justice needs to be
careful and control some of the materials that prisoners have access to. I
mean, I understand books promoting governmental overthrow or how to build a bomb
wouldn't be made readily available to convicted felons.

However, it seems to me that we shouldn't ban everything then create a list of
approved books for access. Instead, ban the problematic titles. Prison
Fellowship president Mark Earley summed it up when he said "It's swatting a fly
with a sledgehammer. There's no need to get rid of literally hundreds of
thousands of books that are fine simply because you have a problem with an
isolated book or piece of literature that presents extremism."

As an apologist, I always encourage the examination of ideas. Truth has a
way of holding up under scrutiny. Granted, sometimes you need a guide, but
barring works that show the weaknesses within a belief system gives you a warped
view of that system. Similarly, what about new titles? Why should
prisoners have to wait to read the newest Lee Strobel book until some committee
approves it?

Of course, the bigger issue is, if this type of screening exists today then
what's down the road?