Brianna Jones

Setonian Seminar - SLA 400

Professor Niccols
3 October 2023

Book Banning in Schools

There has been a surge of school districts and administrators putting bans on classic books in their

school systems. The books are banned, typically, because of their overall content or the intended message

of the book. Oftentimes, schools will take certain books out of all classrooms and school-funded libraries

which limits access for students. This can take away a young student’s ability to form their own opinions,

but also restrict their knowledge to a controlled and specific criteria. Currently, there are at least 874

books that have been reported as banned in schools. Although every book on this list has not been banned

by every school, it is still an overwhelmingly high number of stories that are removed solely for their

content. A majority of the banned books contain themes of physical abuse or mental health. Other topics

contain racism, death, sexual assault, LGBTQ+, and abortion/teen pregnancy (Pen America, 2023). A lot

of the themes in these books are current issues in the world. The generation that these books are being

taken from are growing up in this era and see these issues firsthand. Having books acknowledging them

allows the younger generations to form opinions on them and understand that social justice is an issue that

needs to be addressed. Some classic, or well-known, banned books are To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, The

Color Purple, and The Catcher in the Rye. These were all books that were previously used to educate

students on topics within social justice, but now that are being taken away and only further sheltering

them.

Catholic Social Teaching has teachings about almost every aspect of social justice. Book banning

falls under the category of freedom of speech. Reading about and discussing topics seen in these books

can be considered freedom of speech since most people have their own opinions on them and feel strongly

enough to express them openly. Catholic Social Teaching supports the idea of everyone having the chance

to express themselves and their personal opinions. It is one of the rights that humans have as members of

society and of the church. However, it also teaches that the opinions need to be within “The Truth”. The
Truth refers to the single group of beliefs that the Catholic Church has established. Therefore, it seems

that Catholic Social Teaching would agree with the banning of specific books due to the provocative or

anti-religion themes that are seen in them. At one point, one of the Vatican Councils made their own list

of banned books and stated that anyone who read them was committing a mortal sin. The concept of

banning books in schools can be viewed, through Catholic Social Teaching, as justified if the themes in

the book teach something other than what the Church teaches. Catholic Social Teaching believes that the

censorship of non-age appropriate material is right because it protects students from potentially upsetting

or seemingly unfit themes. However, in the world we live in today, all the themes that are being removed

from shelves are right in front of the students in everyday life. Reading and learning about these topics

may be just as valuable to the student as a normal classroom lecture. It will strengthen their ability to form

ideas and opinions, but also show how authors are raising awareness through art.

There are two ways to address the topic of book banning in school - in the view of Catholic Social

Teaching and in the view of people who do not believe in those ideals. A lot of Catholic schools address

this concept by continuing to remove the books but also also explaining their reasoning - it does not

coincide with the beliefs of the religion and exposes students to improper themes. The other side

addresses the topic by claiming that removing books is removing possible knowledge increases.

Catholic Social Teaching explains that the solution to book banning is to continue to censor books

that are proven to be inappropriate for students, usually at the Pope’s discretion, but to provide a further

explanation with examples as to why this book was considered inappropriate. Oftentimes, if a book has

even a paragraph that shows inappropriate themes, it typically ends up in the index. One way for this to be

solved is to only ban books in which the unfit content is the majority rather than just being present. On the

other hand, the solution proposed by those who disagree with Catholic Social Teaching is to eliminate the

book ban entirely. They do not believe that all students should be held accountable for following the

teachings of The Truth if they do not believe in it. This social issue is not often talked about, but it has

very strong opposing sides. Since we are focusing on Catholic Social Teaching, the best solution, in their
eyes, is to censor any books that may expose students to content that is deemed unfit and out of the scope

of Catholic education.

Although the purpose of this class and assignment is to focus on Catholic Social Teaching, it is

important to look at both sides of the argument to fully understand why it is a social issue. There is no

definitive answer to any social issue - only opinions from each opposing side. It is important to always

outline and look into the other side of a social issue argument even if it is not the opinion you believe in.

Therefore, I thought it was important to showcase both the Catholic Social Teaching side of the issue as

well as the side that opposes it. It gives more background and allows outsiders to fully understand why

people believe so strongly about something.

In conclusion, Catholic Social Teaching does not have a direct teaching about the book ban, but

they have many surrounding the idea of censorship and freedom of opinion. The Catholic church believes

that if a book has themes that are inappropriate, or go against The Truth, they should be removed from

shelves. They would address this issue by giving explanations on how the books violate the teachings of

the church and give students the chance to express their beliefs and opinions. The other side of the

argument is that censorship of books is simply just dwindling a student’s education and knowledge of

unfortunately relevant themes. Both parties have a valid viewpoint on the social issue of book banning

and it will take years to make an official choice on what is best. The Catholic church has its own view on

every social issue, past and present, and uses it as a way to guide its followers. Hopefully, one day in the

future, we will see the Catholic church and society’s views merge together to create an unchangeable set

of ideals for all social issues.

 References

https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03519d.htm