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California School Removes Corrie ten Boom Books from Library for Christian Content

  • Amanda Casanova

    Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and…

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  • Updated Sep 22, 2014

The Pacific Justice Institute told a charter school in Southern California they may be violating the First Amendment after the school removed books with Christian content from their library. The books removed were by Christian authors and Christian publishers, which included Corrie ten Boom’s acclaimed “The Hiding Place.”

Pacific Justice Institute attorney Michael Peffer sent the school a cease-and-desist letter to the school in late August, but the superintendent of Springs Charter School Kathleen Hermsmeyer replied: “We do not allow sectarian materials on our state-authorized lending shelves.”

The PJI will be sending a public records request to the district.

PJI President Brad Dacus said: "It is alarming that a school library would attempt to purge books from religious authors. Indeed, some of the greatest literature of Western Civilization comes from people of faith. Are they going to ban the sermons or speeches of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? What about the Declaration of Independence that invokes the laws of nature and nature's God? We are calling on Springs Charter Schools to immediately reverse their ill-conceived and illegal book-banning policy." 

Publication date: September 22, 2014