Noting that challenges to library materials are “to be expected in a free and democratic society,” Nath explained that excluding the “capable and conscientious people” on the state library board from the review process “could have unintended negative effects on the credibility and authority of all types of library governance bodies.”
The controversy began in the spring when a Huron, South Dakota, middle school librarian challenged the Teen Center link to Planned Parenthood’s Teenwire.com. After the state library board declined to remove the link, Sioux Falls Catholic Bishop Robert Carlson wrote asking the governor to intervene, characterizing Teenwire.com as an abortion advocacy site. “It’s my responsibility as a clergyman and as a moral leader in the community to bring moral convictions into public play,” Bishop Carlson said in the July 24 Sioux Falls Argus Leader, “Separation of church and state does not require separation between belief and public action.”
Posted July 30, 2004.