The Palm Beach County School Board refused to pull 80 books referencing homosexuality, atheism and abortion from the library shelves of two high schools.
But the mother fighting since September to ban them refuses to give up.
Laura Lopez, with son Jesse, talks to a reporter. A school board member said the books she protests might aid some students.
Laura Lopez said she will start a church-to-church petition and reach out to a Christian law center to represent her.
"To me, it doesn't end here. This is just the beginning," said the West Palm Beach mom.
Two school committees and Superintendent Art Johnson had already shot down her request. On Wednesday, the board voted unanimously to back Johnson.
It was unclear whether Lopez had any challenges left.
Lopez had 15 minutes to make her case during a school board workshop. She listed a litany of sins that she says are promoted by books she found doing a simple key word search on the library computers at Dreyfoos School of the Arts and Royal Palm Beach High School. She acknowledged she hadn't read a single one of the books cover-to-cover.
Among the objectionable books were: Medical Ethics: Moral and Legal Conflicts in Health Care, Coping When a Parent is Gay and The Cider House Rules, a John Irving novel about a rural doctor who runs an orphanage and performs illegal abortions.
She also expanded her objections to include the curriculum taught in schools.
"They're teaching kids the Big Bang. They're teaching kids lies," she told the board. "The world was created 6,000 years ago. In my son's elementary school book, it says the world was created several million years ago."
Board members applauded Lopez's advocacy but found no grounds to support her.
Board member Monroe Benaim talked about students who struggle with their sexuality or contemplate suicide and might be afraid to talk to someone but could find some solace in a library book.
"As a school board member, I'm a school board member to all children whether they are heterosexual or homosexual, pregnant or not pregnant and no matter what they believe religiously," he said.
One of Lopez's two teenaged sons, Jesse, a sophomore at Royal Palm Beach, came to support his mother. Her oldest son, whom she did not name, does not agree with his mother's objections to the library books.
Jesse Lopez said he worries about his fellow classmates who turn to friends for information, who may consult books full of lies. "If their friends rely on them and if those books are teaching evil, that's just corrupt," he said.
Despite the controversial topic, Lopez's hearing drew only a few people to the daytime board workshop. She brought a friend and a youth pastor. Two members of the Atheists of Broward County also came, but did not testify.
"If you don't like a book, walk to the next aisle and find a different one," Ken Loukinen, president of the atheist organization, said after the meeting.
The world was created 6,000 years ago, and everything we have that disproves that is either a lie, or a test from the god that we should be worshiping if we don't want to go to hell.
Who wants kids knowing about moral debates? They might learn to think critically about things!
Have you ever actually tried to explain how that works to someone like that? It's like trying to teach your dog to use the toilet. They've never used their mind, it's too far gone to receive any new information. They just stare at you blankly and then start yelling again.
I have to wonder: maybe if we did abandon science, maybe if we stopped thinking we were Gods...maybe the world wouldn't be so evil. I have no evidence to back up either side of the argument.
"To me, it doesn't end here. This is just the beginning," said the West Palm Beach mom.
I'm actually interested in what it would be like if she just had her way with everything. If she objects to The Cider House Rules I wonder how much else she would take away.
Weren't there plenty of perfectly reasonable (non-villain) characters in that story that thought abortion was immoral? And wasn't it illegal? How does that constitute a promotion of the act?
Lopez had 15 minutes to make her case during a school board workshop. She listed a litany of sins that she says are promoted by books she found doing a simple key word search on the library computers at Dreyfoos School of the Arts and Royal Palm Beach High School. She acknowledged she hadn't read a single one of the books cover-to-cover.
Come on, John. I am so tired of the assertion that our society's interest in science is the same as worshipping science as a religion. Humans did not spontaneously develop pride (and thus, evil??) as a side-effect of the scientific method, and there are a hell of a lot of scientists who do what they do as a way to better understand things God has created..
Always remember: Agent Scully was the religious one.
"She acknowledged she hadn't read a single one of the books cover-to-cover."
I've never heard of one of these sort of things where this wasn't the case. People like this woman are naive. Banning books like that is akin to ignoring the issues that they address. That kind of closed-mindedness has no place at a school.
I have to wonder: maybe if we did abandon science, maybe if we stopped thinking we were Gods...maybe the world wouldn't be so evil. I have no evidence to back up either side of the argument.
*sad face* :[
And I have to wonder; maybe if we abandoned irrational faith and the subsequent arrogance that results from it, a term I now coin as "jackassity," maybe the world wouldn't be so completely fucking insane.
Side note: How many of these book-banners realize that the first act of nearly any and every despotic and evil society has been to burn or ban books that were not in perfect accordance with their beliefs?
Ugh. I can only hope that as generation after generation grows up, there will be fewer and fewer people who refuse to open their minds... not just with homosexuality or religion, but with ethnicity and race as well. I know that stuff like that is passed on as people have kids, so we'll always have to deal with SOME people like Laura Lopez... but bleh. It's her type of intolerance to something foreign or different that starts wars.
Hey, at least ONE of her sons thinks she's crazy. I mean, I respect pretty much everyone's views, but... I'm not going to respect someone who thinks their idea is the ONLY correct one.
Now, now, everyone. Scientific-ly-minded and Religious-ly-minded people are both equally capable of being either complete mindboggling douchebags or pretty cool. Let's not generalize.
BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Beijing police have detained a television reporter for allegedly fabricating an investigative story about steamed buns stuffed with cardboard at a time when China's food safety is under intense international scrutiny.
A report directed by Beijing TV and played on state-run national broadcaster China Central Television last Thursday said an unlicensed snack vendor in eastern Beijing was selling steamed dumplings stuffed with cardboard soaked in caustic soda and seasoned with pork flavoring.
Beijing authorities said investigations had found that an employee surnamed Zi had fabricated the report to garner "higher audience ratings", the China Daily said on Thursday.
"Zi had provided all the cardboard and asked the vendor to soak it. It's all cheating," the paper quoted a government notice as saying.
A city-wide inspection of steamed bun vendors in the wake of the report had found no such cases, the paper said.
Beijing TV had apologized for failing to check the report's authenticity and said it would make efforts to improve staff ethics, the paper added.
China is reeling from a series of tainted food and drug scandals that have sparked criticism at home and abroad.
The deaths of patients in Panama from mislabeled drug ingredients from China, deadly toxins in pet food exported to the United States and food laced with hazardous antibiotics and chemicals have raised fears about the safety of China's surging exports.
On Wednesday, Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to improve food safety in a meeting with a visiting Japanese House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono, Kyodo news agency reported.
Comments
Fatty pork.
Who wants kids knowing about moral debates? They might learn to think critically about things!
Oh, and to paraphrase the late great prophet Bill Hicks, I think God created creationists to test my faith.
Have you ever actually tried to explain how that works to someone like that? It's like trying to teach your dog to use the toilet. They've never used their mind, it's too far gone to receive any new information. They just stare at you blankly and then start yelling again.
*sad face* :[
I'm actually interested in what it would be like if she just had her way with everything. If she objects to The Cider House Rules I wonder how much else she would take away.
Always remember: Agent Scully was the religious one.
(quoted for emphasis) and stef wins!
I've never heard of one of these sort of things where this wasn't the case. People like this woman are naive. Banning books like that is akin to ignoring the issues that they address. That kind of closed-mindedness has no place at a school.
And I have to wonder; maybe if we abandoned irrational faith and the subsequent arrogance that results from it, a term I now coin as "jackassity," maybe the world wouldn't be so completely fucking insane.
Side note: How many of these book-banners realize that the first act of nearly any and every despotic and evil society has been to burn or ban books that were not in perfect accordance with their beliefs?
Hey, at least ONE of her sons thinks she's crazy. I mean, I respect pretty much everyone's views, but... I'm not going to respect someone who thinks their idea is the ONLY correct one.
To be honest, people who believe only in objective and positive science tend to be much more arrogant than most religious people.