Sherlock Holmes Book Axed From 6th Grade Reading Lists After Anti-Mormon Claims
We read:
"A Virginia county has decided to remove Sherlock Holmes’ first adventure from sixth-grade reading lists after its contents were deemed inappropriate and offensive to Mormons. Brette Stevenson, a parent of a Henley Middle School student, had complained that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet” is derogatory toward Mormons.
Following a study conducted by a special commission and two board discussions regarding the matter, the Albemarle County School Board voted Thursday night to remove the book. The committee commissioned to study the novel said in a report that it’s not age-appropriate for sixth-graders.
More than 20 former Henley students turned out to oppose the book’s removal from the lists. Rising Western Albemarle High School ninth-grader Quinn Legallo-Malone spoke during public comment to oppose removal of the book. He called the work “the best book I have read so far.”
The book includes a flashback to 1847 Utah that recounts the actions of a Mormon community when a non-Mormon man wants to marry the daughter of one of its members. The USA Today highlights the controversial text (from Chapter 3 of the book):
"(John Ferrier) had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of the Saints."
Source
But you can say how evil early American Christians were, of course. Zinn's "People's history" is a widely used textbook and you would get the impression that Christians past and present were Fascist monsters from it.
9 comments:
Ahh, another attempt to rewrite history.
Sheltering our children from the historical FACTS that founded, built, and shaped the United States is far more destructive than any prose negative toward a specific group. Accurate and complete knowledge of our past enables individuals to better direct our future. Forcing ignorance enables our government to direct our future for us. You make the choice.
Yes, that passage is SO insensitive and horrible. How dare Mormons be allowed to read that someone doesn't want their daughter to marry one! Doyle should have said "Catholic," and then everything would be fine....
This is stupid,I'm a mormon and have no problem with my child or any other child reading this book. All it takes is a couple of seconds for someone to explain the context of the time in which it was written. The school went way overboard on this one.
Yeah, and Shakespeare's plays aren't very flattering about jews, or blacks, so we'd better ban Shakespeare!
Someday, although i truly doubt it, Americans will go back to being hard-working, sensible people, rather than the overly-sensitive, money-hungry, sheep we've become. Of course, the lawyers won't be happy.
I remember that story, it's great! People it's just a story, nothing more.
Every work of fiction I've read, and many non-fiction works, have something that will offend someone somewhere. Perhaps we should ban all books.
I agree with the Duke of Stratford - I'm also a Mormon, have read "A Study in Scarlet", found nothing to offend me, and have no trouble with anyone reading the story.
As for hiding an embarrassing past, while it might be tempting, it's a mistake. Society needs to remember past actions and the consequences, then use them as a guide to future actions.
It's a very short walk from banning books to burning them!
Apparently, books are an obsolete medium, and all previous and future publications will be electronically sourced - how much easier to censor and control!!!
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