When Kirk Cameron first decided to go around to public libraries nationwide to read his faith-focused children’s books, he never imagined that getting access to these libraries would be a problem. After all, public libraries are taxpayer-funded and have been known to welcome all kinds of viewpoints. (Drag Queen Story Hour, we’re looking at you!)
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case according to First Liberty Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys, who is representing Mr. Cameron and his publisher, Brave Books, after it was discovered that the American Library Association (ALA) was partnering with local public libraries to keep the “Growing Pains” actor out.
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“What the American Library Association was doing through their vice president was actively conspiring with local libraries to keep out people like Kirk Cameron… specifically because he was promoting a religious ideology with which the ALA apparently has a problem,” Mr. Dys explained to The Washington Times. “[This has] put thousands of local public libraries in legal jeopardy and taught them how to violate the law of the Constitution by engaging in religious discrimination.”
Mr. Cameron, who has made 17 stops on his library tour thus far, is hoping that the federal government will investigate and put a stop to the discrimination. In the meantime, the author of “As Your Grow” and “Pride Comes Before the Fall” will continue to partner with Brave Books in hosting story hours across the country to teach kids about faith, hope and love.
That includes an upcoming nationwide event, See You at the Library, on August 5. The event is a chance for families of faith to gather at hundreds of local public libraries nationwide to worship God, read Brave Books, and pray for the future of America.
“My hope is that as I go to these libraries across the country and try to demonstrate to people that real change in the United States of America is not going to start at the White House — it’s going to start at your house and my house. It’s we the people,” Mr. Cameron told The Washington Times.
“I’m tired of hanging with the whiners, the conservatives, the Christians who complain about the culture getting worse and worse, but then just sort of sit back in their comfortable house watching Fox News, crying in their Chick-fil-a soup,” he added. “I want to be counted with the winners. I want to win back the culture by protecting the hearts and minds of children and training them up in the way that they should go.”
As a longtime constitutional lawyer, Mr. Dys said he is encouraged by recent high-profile legal victories for religious freedom and is optimistic about the future of religious liberty in America as long as more people like Mr. Cameron continue to take an active part in the fight.
“At the end of the day, this falls on the American people. Look, these are your libraries – it’s not the ALA’s libraries. These belong to you, the taxpayers, and so if you want to have a Kirk or Brave Books come to your library, well, then invite them and try to set up an event at your local library,” he said.
That’s exactly what Mr. Cameron is hoping more people will do and said that unless parents get back to actively discipling and influencing their own children, the world will continue to do it for them.
“What I’m hoping is that parents… will cease outsourcing their most sacred responsibility of parenting to the government and public schools and even churches and take back the hearts and minds of their little ones because our future in America depends on it,” he concluded.
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Marissa Mayer is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her work has been featured in Christian Post, The Daily Signal, and Intellectual Takeout. Mayer has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Arizona State University.
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