Louisiana Voice

Perhaps Pastor Bobby Green, instead of reading from the Book of Revelation on Tuesday’s meeting of the Livingston Parish Library Board of Control should take some time to instead read Ezekiel 23:20 before trying to lecture others about which books belong in the public library.

Or maybe Pastor Philip Gray (not even a resident of Livingston Parish, but Baton Rouge) should read Hosea 13:16 before urging board members to “follow God’s judgment” in their vote before advocating for the removal of the graphic novel This One Summer, a book that after 12 years on the library shelf, is suddenly controversial.

Before Dylan Whitney, who admitted he’d not even read the book but nevertheless advocated that “We should just burn the book and get rid of it forever,” maybe he ought to sit down and pour over Ruth 1:16 and 2 Samuel 1:26, 2 Samuel 16:12, 1 Samuel 18:1-5, I Samuel 20:1-23; 35-42, 1 Samuel 20:41, 1 Samuel 28:32-34 and 1 Samuel 20: 12-17; 42.

All those concerned citizens so uptight about a book should take a peek at Genesis 19:8 and 19:30-38, passages you aren’t likely to hear in your Sunday sermons.

The spineless board voted 6-3 to relocate the award-winning book to the adult section of the library despite legal advice from District Attorney Scott Perrilloux and the Tulane University Law School’s First Amendment Law Clinic, both of whom said the content of the novel does not meet the statutory definition of “sexually explicit” material in the state statute.

Livingston Parish librarian Amanda Jones, author of That Librarian, and who is pursuing a defamation lawsuit against library critics (she earlier this week won a major victory with a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling) spoke out against the board’s action but was constantly interrupted by several so-called “Christians” who attempted to shout her down.

To get an idea how absurd the hysteria has become over the library issue—on the part of people who most likely have made precious visits to the library and possibly have not read a book since the introduction of Facebook—had become, State Rep. Kellee Hennessee Dickerson was in attendance.

Dickerson had authored the 2024 House Bill 777 (maybe it should’ve been 666) which, as unbelievable as this seems, would have barred librarians from using public funds to attend American Library Association conferences. Furthermore, her bill would apparently have made such attendance a felony punishable by prison time with or without hard labor.

Sanity prevailed in that case, however, and the bill failed.

Such is the insanity that has gripped some residents of Livingston Parish, thanks in no small part to the meddling of non-resident Mike Lunsford and his Repugnantcan-funded Citizens for a New Louisiana.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems these “Christians” could better invest their time visiting patients of nursing homes, shut-ins, providing services for those in need and offering a hand to those who are suffering rather than getting their drawers in a know over books in a library.

They could even study the books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy to get a handle on Mosaic Law. But they may wish to avoid reading 2 Kings 6:29. That’s a little too harsh and should probably serve to relegate the Bible to the adult or even erotic sections.

Leviticus, besides admonishing us on what clothes not to wear and what food not to eat (commandments most of us have violated and continue to violate on a regular basis), tells us in 19:33-34, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” Wow, Kristi Noem needs to read that, for sure.

The point of all this is not to denigrate Christianity in particular or religion in general. That’s a deeply personal issue and our freedom to believe or not believe is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. No, the purpose of all this is remind us of Matthew 7:1. It offers great advice as does John 8:7.

In other words, turn your focus inward and stop obsessing so cotton-pickin’ much about what others are doing, thinking and saying. And most of all, quit listening to crackpots like Mike Lunsford. After all, who appointed him the guardian of decency anyway?