Book Bans vs. Building the Beloved Community: The State of Belief

Erasing Black history. Silencing the acknowledgement of LGBTQI+ lives. Rewriting the role diverse religions and beliefs have played in building our nation. These are just some of the ways authoritarians are chipping away at the truth of our national identity and collective memory. Sometimes the pretense is protecting children; sometimes, fostering national pride; sometimes, defending narrowly-identified religious sensibilities… But always, the effect is further marginalizing the already marginalized, and further dividing communities that already face polarization of neighbor against neighbor.

Censorship in schools, libraries and institutions of higher learning is escalating across the nation. Among the invaluable initiatives to raise awareness and build coalitions of resistance is the National Freedom to Read Day of Community Action, organized by Unite Against Book Bans and supported by a long list of diverse secular and religious organizations. The State of Belief host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush gets the story of Qiana Johnson, who championed a statement opposing book bans on moral grounds to the highest levels of the Episcopal Church in the US; Very Rev. Kim Coleman, head of the Union of Black Episcopalians, which took up the cause of the right to read and made it a priority as a cornerstone of creating the Beloved Community; and Rabba Rori Picker Neiss, who fights to raise up the right to read - and to be read about - as essential human rights, particularly for populations most vulnerable in our society.

Qiana Johnson is Associate Dean of Libraries for Collections and Content Strategies at Dartmouth, and an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church. Rev. Kim Coleman is President of the Union of Black Episcopalians and rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Arlington, VA. And Rabba Rori Picker Neiss is Senior Vice President for Community Relations at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

The State of Belief this week is a powerful demonstration of how one person really can make a difference, and a call to action around this critical issue regardless of religious or political affiliation, right now - before the damage done is irreversible.

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Hear this week’s episode below: