May 29 2008
Good for the ACLU!
[KSDK]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri has filed a lawsuit against the city of Poplar Bluff after a library worker claims she was disciplined for failing to work at an event to promote a Harry Potter book. Anthony Rothert with the ACLU in St. Louis says the woman, Deborah Smith, is a Southern Baptist who believes the Harry Potter series popularizes witchcraft and the practice of the occult.
He says she was suspended without pay for 10 days when she refused to work at a library event on July 21, 2007, for the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” He says Smith, who has a pacemaker, was given arduous tasks, like emptying out a book drop-off box, upon her return, and quit on her doctor’s recommendation.
He says the lawsuit filed in federal court in Cape Girardeau Tuesday alleges violations of her civil andFirst Amendment rights and seeks unspecified damages. There was no immediate response from Poplar Bluff’s attorney.
Source here.
[From me]
Don’t even get me started on Harry Potter and the Occult. If this had been another religious person, I guarantee the library officials would have accommodated her. I’ll say this for the ACLU–they are consistent. Good for them.
What do you think?
4 responses so far
I was shocked when I saw your headline. I really didn’t know much good could come from the ACLU. But, miracles do exist!
Thanks for passing along this positive note.
M. Steve Heartsill’s last blog post..Jesus is Lord!
I think it’s ridiculous. The Harry Potter stuff is so over-hyped. There has always been fairy tale and make believe.
Well, I don’t know how consistent they are, but it helps that they did what they say they do this time. It’s a little easier for evangelicals to see them in a different light when they start defending their rights, which they don’t seem to do all the time.
Art Rogers’s last blog post..Church Staffing: The Search
If she is uncomfortable working in an environment where she is exposed to ideas that are unacceptable to her she needs to quickly get out of a public library. It is obviously not the work environment for her.