The News From America

Two stories I missed over the last couple of weeks. First, from the Raleigh-Durham News & Observer, School Defends Slavery Booklet:

Students at one of the area's largest Christian schools are reading a controversial booklet that critics say whitewashes Southern slavery with its view that slaves lived 'a life of plenty, of simple pleasures.'

Leaders at Cary Christian School say they are not condoning slavery by using 'Southern Slavery, As It Was,' a booklet that attempts to provide a biblical justification for slavery and asserts that slaves weren't treated as badly as people think.

That was Thursday. On Friday the school dropped the booklet "after they learned about faulty footnotes and citation errors in the publication," i.e., after it made the papers. (Via Bankrupt Artist)

Meanwhile, in Alabama, a politician wants to ban books with gay characters:

An Alabama lawmaker who sought to ban gay marriages now wants to ban novels with gay characters from public libraries, including university libraries.

A bill by Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, would prohibit the use of public funds for “the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.” Allen said he filed the bill to protect children from the “homosexual agenda.”

(Via telescreen.org)