After an official for the American Library Association allegedly provided recommendations for how librarians can limit Christians’ freedom of speech, a legal team is calling for a federal investigation into the matter.
The recommendations reportedly came from Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the ALA’s “Intellectual Freedom” office.
Caldwell-Stone’s comments were made in response to a book tour from BRAVE Books and Kirk Cameron’s library story hour.
Caldwell-Stone reportedly said that the First Amendment “does not require the library to even offer the meeting-room spaces.”
She added that “in regard to the Kirk Cameron thing, you are not obligated to offer public meeting-room spaces.”
After the statements were made, Jeremy Dys of First Liberty Institute wrote to Crosby Kempter of the Institue of Museum and Library Services, calling for an “investigation into whether the American Library Association has violated federal law protecting religious liberty and failed to comply with the assurances of nondiscrimination required as a federal grant recipient.”
The letter noted that Caldwell-Stone appeared to the “ALA’s opposition to our clients upon their religious beliefs,” although the ALA aided its members in “hosting ‘Drag Queen Story Hour.'”
“Caldwell-Stone next encourages the nation’s public librarians to concoct a deception upon the public: ‘what if your library decided to offer a whole host of programs in its meeting rooms on August 5th, making it unavailable for the public? That’s another option for you,'” the letter reads, referring to upcoming August 5th story hours as part of BRAVE Books’ tour.
Reporting from World Net Daily:
"Inarguably, Ms. Caldwell-Stone is calling for librarians nationwide to perpetuate a wide-ranging conspiracy, if not a fraud, upon the public, denying local taxpayers access to their public libraries under the guise of 'a whole host of programs.' Ms. Caldwell-Stone and the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom appear openly eager to discriminate against those in the local community who seek only the freedom to receive information from our clients, specifically, the religious information our clients intend to present." The letter said American taxpayers "should not be required to subsidize religious bigotry." And it said the ALA may not use millions in federal funds to "openly violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and federal regulations. … Openly conspiring to deprive local citizens access to public meeting space to read religious books violates this core constitutional protection."
