The Time has Come to Ban Kids from Church

Every week, sometimes almost daily, the news tells a story from somewhere in this nation of a GOP move to ban something in order to “save the children.” Everything except the rampant gun culture we have, of course. This same epidemic that sadly reared its hideous head yet again this morning with an elementary school shooting in Tennessee (LINK). But nevertheless, they continue to insist they care deeply for the safety and health of our youth. Multiple states are banning drag queens due to the potential they may “turn the children gay,” which of course has no basis in fact, but who cares about that. Just this week, an elementary school principle in Florida was fired because she allowed a 6th grade art class to view a picture of Michaelangelo’s David, considered by most to be the greatest sculpture in the history of the world. Michelangelo carved the statue out of a single piece of marble with breathtaking detail. Yet, rather than admiring the detail with which Michelangelo captured the human body, the prudish parents in that school decided it was porn. Pornhub would be honored to ever be considered to be in the same genre as Michelangelo. Once again, these ignorant right wing nuts couched their ignorance in the rationale of “saving the children” (by teaching them to be ashamed of the human body…and then they wonder why we have so many body shaming and eating disorders.)

If we go back to the QAnon and “Pizzagate” conspiracies, we will find the same rationale. The same justification they are using to ban books, ban art, ban drag shows, and even telling kids in Florida that Gay people exist. (Florida passed the Don’t Say Gay law by claiming it was just for kids 3rd grade and under. To no one’s real surprise, that was just the beginning. They are trying to expand it now through 12th grade. (LINK). Imagine being so naive that you don’t think high schoolers are aware there are Gay people in the world.) But perhaps, just maybe, they’re on to something. At least, someone in Utah thinks so. Leveraging a 2022 Utah law that is banning books for anything school boards deem inappropriate or pornographic, a request has been made to ban the Bible from Utah school libraries. And while the Right scoffs, based on their own standards, this request is accurate. The person who submitted the request cited 49 passages in the bible that are deemed inappropriate. Certainly, it’s…