Austin Frady, for example, is quoted as saying “Our public library in Jackson County should be a place where information is made available, but ideology is not promoted.” Mathew Nations is quoted as saying, “By pushing an ideology upon our children through certain materials, they have no place in the library.” Both men are pastors.

I looked up a good definition of ideology in the Merriam Webster dictionary: “a: a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture; b: the integrated assertions, theories and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program; and c: a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture.” I paused to wonder whether anybody of integrated thought is an ideology. It is clear that the term applies equally to political and religious ideologies. All political groups (such as Democrats and Republicans) have a body of beliefs, aka ideologies. So do all religions.

In this sense, many materials in a library contain ideologies. Should a library pick and choose which ideologies to include and exclude? If it did, its information would become slanted toward one ideology over another. It’s unclear why Christian ideology should be preferred over “liberal” ideology. Should a library choose to exclude or restrict material some people call objectionable because it is said to promote a certain ideology, it would no longer be a library in the usual sense of the word. Instead, it would become tethered to an ideology it has chosen. It would no longer promote critical thinking but would adhere to a preset body of information. It would be like a business that sells only one brand. A real library does not seek to indoctrinate people but to present materials that help people make individual decisions. Otherwise, a kind of brainwashing comes about.

No library board should recommend that its library be circumscribed by the rules or values of one particular ideology. Withdrawing Jackson County from the FRL system would result in reducing its capability to inspire people to think for themselves. County libraries would lose their ability to promote critical thinking.  It would be like putting handcuffs on the mind. If some patrons don’t wish their children to be exposed to a certain ideology, they should do the restricting themselves and not require a library to do it for them. This is America. America is not a theocracy but a place for the “demos,” the Greek word for all common people, to have a role in the society.

Ricks Carson
Franklin