Halton Catholic School's Censor Fantasy Series, Still Allow Bible

http://theframeproblem.wordpress.com/2007/12/20/halton-district-catholic-school-board-officially-bans-pullman-books/

Halton District Catholic School Board Officially Bans Pullman Books
Posted by ronbrown on December 20, 2007

For daring to criticize Catholicism, Philip Pullman’s books have officially been banned from Halton Catholic School shelves. The most notable of the three books is The Golden Compass, which has recently been made into a movie and has been dignified by readers around the world as the best children’s book in the last 70 years.

“After yanking The Golden Compass from its library shelves for review, a Toronto-area Catholic school board has decided to make the removal permanent.
At a board meeting Tuesday evening, the trustees of the Halton District Catholic School Board voted to ban the title as well as the remaining two books in atheist author Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy: The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
A committee struck to review The Golden Compass had proposed moving the book to the young adult section of school libraries, but the trustees rejected that proposition and approved a ban instead.”

Something tells me that the Halton Board probably would not be in as much of a rush to ban books condemnatory of other religious or secular groups. It’s seems, to me, to be an incredible sign of weakness that rather than simply presenting an alternative perspective to what is being said or implied in Pullman’s books, the board feels that it needs to ban the book altogether. I only hope that this results in more of their students wanting to read it just because they’ve been discouraged from doing it.

On the plus side, this turn of events will probably increase the number and vigor of Ontarians against the public funding of Catholic schools, which was already a majority. So a big “Thank You” to the Halton District Catholic School Board! Your spineless insecurity and Big Brotherish ways are a continuing source of inspiration.