Book Banning on the Rise

Book Marks is a weekly blog post from Literary Hub, a book review and news outlet.

Thanks to Book Marks for sharing the incredibly disturbing data that inspires this Great Ideas reprise.

Here’s some context:

In February, 2025, The Guardian’s Marina Dunbar reported that ‘the Donald Trump administration instructed the Department of Education to end their investigations into [book] bans, calling them a “hoax”.’

In complete contradiction to these claims, Book Marks’ July 18, 2025 post, states that, ‘The Trump administration wants to ban hundreds of books from schools that serve military children.’ And, ‘New Hampshire governor Kelly Ayotte has vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have empowered book banners in public schools.’

Book banning is a key element in controlling information, data, minds, ideas, creativity, and futures. Book banning is a staple strategy of oligarchs, autocrats, fascists and other totalitarian governments and social structures.

Later in her Guardian article Dunbar cites Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms managing director for US free expression programs at PEN America, writing,

‘…book bans are often an early sign of authoritarianism. One of the most infamous examples is Nazi Germany’s mass book burnings, but Mussolini and many other dictators, including leaders of the. Soviet Union and communist China, have utilized similar strategies of cultural censorship and intellectual suppression.

And often, the more subtle the censorship, the more effective it is.

“When someone wants to downplay a book being banned, they won’t call it a ban,” Friedman said. “That’s why certain cases don’t make the news.”

The act of banning a book will often be referred to as an appropriate “removal” or “withdrawal” of material. This has a far less threatening ring to it than “censorship”.’

Find The Guardian’s full article, here.

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Christians have been claimed by the One who literally (that’s a little literary pun) is made known to us by ‘the Word’ (i.e., through preaching and teaching and conversation) and in ‘the Word’ (i.e., the Bible), as the Word (i.e., God’s holy and spoken Word, through which the Creator Created; the Christ, the invisible, eternal Word made visible and incarnate in Jesus).

We share with our Muslim and Jewish siblings the moniker, ‘People of the Book’.

Literacy – and all the genres and challenges, privileges and pitfalls that come with it – are in our DNA as God’s faithful people.

Banning books is antithetical not only to the First Amendment of the Constitution, it is also antithetical to followers of Jesus’ Way.

Let’s raise our voices and raise awareness.

We’ve offered a few Great Ideas on this theme before, including:

Now is no time to back down.

As the school year comes back into focus, so will calls to ban books. Here are steps you can take to keep banned books accessible for all God’s children:

  • Stay aware of School Board and City Council meetings where banning or ‘withdrawing’ decisions are made. Intervene, interject, and demand transparency in these spaces to ensure all students – and people of all walks of life – have access to a full range of books in and through public libraries.
  • Support your local public library as a volunteer and/or financially.
  • Encourage your local librarians – public and school – by sending gratitude in emails or hand-written notes.
    • This could be a great intergenerational activity!
  • Facilitate banned book drives. Make these books available in your own Little Free Library and/or disperse them throughout your neighborhoods network of Little Free Libraries.
  • Stock your church library with banned books.
  • Make lists of banned books – from anywhere – easily accessible to all.
    • Studying and discussing in intergenerational groups could be powerful!
  • Create safe(r) space for peoples whose writing and stories are being banned.
    • LGBTQ+, BIPOC, immigrant, liberal/’woke’, etc.
    • Publicize these groups through safe(r) channels to avoid retaliation against folx who already are more vulnerable.
  • Create a season of reading and preaching from banned books in worship, youth groups, adult studies, intergenerational settings, etc.
    • Make a habit of it year-round.
  • Borrow banned books from The Ministry Lab to facilitate conversations, invite the broader community into discussion and awareness-building, and enhance worship.

Find lists of banned books – including what’s available through our library – in our Faith Formation: Social Justice – Banned Books and our Social Justice: Education – Banned Books.

Send us an email for a Resource or Creative Consultation around ways to build community resistance to book bans.