Book Burning in the 21st Century
"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." (German: "Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.")—Heinrich Heine, from his play Almansor (1821)
“On Sunday evening, members of the Harvest Assembly of God Church in Penn Township sing songs
as they burn books, videos and CDs that they have judged offensive to their God.”
Published in the Butler Eagle, March 26, 2001. Courtesy of the Butler Eagle.
- Kashmir Leader Held on Holy Book Burning Protest, March 16, 2001.
- Harry Potter meets Wizard of Dumb, A Hot Fire Can Consume Most Anything, Burning books, ideas is the real sorcery, and DEMON ROAST — Church Sentences Evil Items to Roaring Bonfire, March 26, 2001.
- Burning books in Jakarta, May 15, 2001.
- Two decades after the burning down of the Jaffna library in Sri Lanka, May 30, 2001.
- Lewiston Christian Group to Protest Potter, November 15, 2001.
“But it won’t be the protest they wanted. Church leaders Doug and Sonia Taylor had hoped to hold a book burning in Kennedy Park Thursday evening. They say the popular fantasy tales encourage witchcraft, occult practices and even rebelliousness among children. However, the Fire Department said public book burning is a fire hazard, and denied the couple a permit. So instead, the Jesus Party will be holding a ‘book cutting.’”
“BOOK CUTTING: Doug Taylor of the Jesus Party destroys a copy of 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone' Thursday evening in Kennedy Park. Counterprotesters decried the Christian group’s action.
—Gregory Rice/Sun Journal”
Published in the Sun Journal Online, November 16, 2001. Courtesy of the Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine).
- Jesus Party, Opposition Square Off over Potter Books, November 16, 2001.
“Two groups of people argued over the definition of evil Thursday night in Kennedy Park. One group said it was embodied in the messages contained in the Harry Potter novels. The second group countered that evil lives in those who want to ban books and censor what men, women and children can read.” - Harry Potter Books Burn as Library Showcases Rowling Titles, December 30, 2001.
“A display of Harry Potter books at the Alamogordo (N. Mex.) Public Library was a marked contrast to a December 30 book burning of works written by J. K. Rowling and others that took place outside the city’s Christ Community Church. Held on church property after a half-hour prayer service, the event drew several hundred congregants and as many as 800 counterprotesters.” See also ‘Satanic’ Harry Potter books burnt - S.F. gay-book slasher put on probation; Vandalism charge also a hate crime, September 19, 2002.
“The hate crime was not book burning, it was book slashing — 607 books, to be exact. For nearly a year, someone lurked in the stacks at San Francisco's Main Library and the Chinatown branch, vandalizing books. Almost always they were volumes on gay and lesbian subjects, some of them out of print and hard to replace.” - Montreal-Area Jewish School Library Destroyed by Firebomb (March 5, 2004)
“Only one box of 25 books was salvaged from the 10,000-volume library that served some 230 students. “It’s a writeoff,” school librarian Dan Holobow said in the April 7 Toronto Globe and Mail. “Either the books are melted or they’re water-damaged beyond repair. The collection is basically gone.” See also Prime minister condemns attack on Montreal Jewish school. - Veterans group mulches books at county libraries (October 10, 2005)
“Jim Cabaniss, the president of AVIDD, led a group of up to 15 supporters at times, following a flatbed truck with a mulcher tied to it, starting at 9 a.m. at the library system's central branch in Conroe to the Montgomery, Willis, New Caney, Woodlands (South Branch), and Magnolia Libraries, holding a rally at each. Cabaniss spoke from the tail of the flatbed truck on a makeshift loud speaker of the "filth and smut that have polluted our libraries." He orchestrated the shredding of 'symbolic' books—which he made clear were not the ones on the group's list but books he owned privately—representing what he wanted to do to the more than 70 titles the group was protesting.
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