# Why are Christian Bookstores Allowed to Ban Books? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 5, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271 "2021-03-05T15:24:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/121 "2021-03-05T20:59:16Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > In the UK in order to get planning permission to build new housing, developers must guarantee that some proportion of the dwellings they build will meet conditions to be considered ‘affordable housing’, even if they would prefer to build nothing but executive homes. In other words, they compel companies to provide goods or services they do not wish to offer - and this is the more moderate position. The socialist position is that the local government should build low cost housing and rent it cheaply to the those in need, and it’s what I support. So I guess according to @Atamasama I’m _worse_ than a hardcore USSR socialist, lol. This is something the state is doing because the state feels that it should motivate the housing of non-rich people. For this post of yours not to be the stupidest thing ever, you would have to believe that the government should feel like it should actively propagate hatred, bigotry, and misinformation. Which, admittedly, is probably correct. You probably do wish the government would actively propagate hatred, bigotry, and misinformation. What I don’t get is why you think any decent person should agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/122 "2021-03-05T20:59:21Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You folks are foolishly naive if you think you can control the monstrous ideology that is exploiting wokeness. This is a good one, too. It’s ridiculously facile, and handily supports your deeply-held belief system. Much the same could have been said of the Union in 1861. Look at the extent to which the Northern States went to dominate the Confederacy with _their_ “wokeness.” [Some on the loony left drive me … maybe half as crazy as those on the loony right, but they tend to cause less objective harm than the batshit RW people. They just make it harder to buy incandescent light bulbs (except that was Bush 43), and two gallon soft drinks, and shit like that] ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/123 "2021-03-05T21:01:27Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Scale matters. People melted because a single baker wouldn’t make a cake. Those same people cheer dominant corporations banning Dr. Seuss. Poor comparison. No one asked the baker to make anything that he was not already willing to make. It’s just that he was not willing to make it for specific people that he held in contempt for their lifestyle. A better analogy for this would be that Amazon sells Dr. Seuss books, but won’t sell them to a SSM couple, as they don’t want to support that lifestyle. > [@octopus](#): > > In your example of a lease a thread a mall you ever see any restrictions that’d ban Green Eggs and Ham? No. Malls don’t micromanage the book store tenants. Who is banning Green Eggs and Ham? Seriously, who? I do think that you’d probably be in violation of your mall lease if you were selling Nazi memorabilia, though. > [@octopus](#): > > And at some point the same argument that is used to cancel because it’s being done by corporations or mobs of people at universities could be used for text messages or phone calls. Ah, just diving down that slippery slope, are we. Here’s a hint, no it cannot. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/124 "2021-03-05T21:02:39Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > I’d rather have bad arguments Bad arguments are all you seem to have, as the rest of your post demonstrates. Wouldn’t you rather try a good argument for a change? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/125 "2021-03-05T21:05:41Z")
He’d have to change his moral positions to use good arguments, though. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/126 "2021-03-05T21:06:21Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You illiberal wannabe Stalinists/Maoists are a far greater danger to democracy and liberty than any other group in the west. Got a January 6th-shaped hole in your memory, asshole? ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/127 "2021-03-05T21:06:29Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > One of the many reasons that that is not really comparable is because people actually do need a place to live. They don’t need Amazon to distribute their books. Free exchange of ideas is essential to a healthy society. Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience. Don’t you agree? > [@k9bfriender](#): > > And I would agree that it would be more efficient for the govt to simply take care of housing directly, but it is actually those on the right that oppose that most strongly. Exactly. But you see why I thought it ridiculous to claim that government regulation implies some kind of socialist dystopia. We can argue about whether it’s justified in a particular case, but it’s nothing unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/128 "2021-03-05T21:08:52Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > Free exchange of ideas is essential to a healthy society. Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience. Don’t you agree? That is not Amazon’s responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/129 "2021-03-05T21:14:04Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > Free exchange of ideas is essential to a healthy society. Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience. Don’t you agree? I don’t think you understand what freedom of speech means. It does _not_ mean “freedom to force other people to say what you want them to.” I have the right to go outside and stand on the sidewalk and say whatever I want. I do not have the right to storm into a television studio and force them to put me on the air. I have a right to hand-make a book and sell it on my personal website. I do not have the right to go to Amazon and force them to sell my book for me. (As it happens, they do sell my book for me, but it’s not because I force them to. They could stop selling it at any time and be entirely within their rights to do so.) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/130 "2021-03-05T21:14:49Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > Free exchange of ideas is essential to a healthy society Hate speech isn’t a “free exchange of ideas”. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/131 "2021-03-05T21:16:14Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > [Some on the loony left drive me … maybe half as crazy as those on the loony right, but they tend to cause less objective harm than the batshit RW people. They just make it harder to buy incandescent light bulbs (except that was Bush 43), and two gallon soft drinks, and shit like that] They only get people fired, silence dissent, make the majority fear to speak their minds… all in the service of forcing us to accept their secular religion, complete with original sin and catechism… The raving right are objectively worse, but the loony left are more dangerous because more powerful. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/132 "2021-03-05T21:18:16Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > complete with original sin and catechism Oh, this I gotta hear. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/133 "2021-03-05T21:18:55Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > They only get people fired, silence dissent, make the majority fear to speak their minds… all in the service of forcing us to accept their secular religion, complete with original sin and catechism… See (the rest of) my comment (about the US Civil War) (against the denizens of the ninth largest island in the world, IIRC): > [@Why are Christian Bookstores Allowed to Ban Books?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/122): > > This is a good one, too. It’s ridiculously facile, and handily supports your deeply-held belief system. Much the same could have been said of the Union in 1861. Look at the extent to which the Northern States went to dominate the Confederacy with their “wokeness.” [Some on the loony left drive me … maybe half as crazy as those on the loony right, but they tend to cause less objective harm than the batshit RW people. They just make it harder to buy incandescent light bulbs (except that was … ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/134 "2021-03-05T21:21:35Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > Free exchange of ideas is essential to a healthy society. Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience. Don’t you agree? For the most part sure. But unless you want to hear my advocacy for my personal prolictivities, then you should probably put at least some sort of constraint on that. However, I don’t see how freedom requires a platform. > [@DemonTree](#): > > But you see why I thought it ridiculous to claim that government regulation implies some kind of socialist dystopia. You are the only one saying socialist dystopia here, so I’ll just write that off as your masterful takedown of your personal strawman, but as far as govt regulations, I do not agree that private businesses should be required to sell any and all goods that one offers for sale. Your example of the govt having a compelling interest to try to combat homelessness is completely irrelevant to your desire to force private companies to be your platform for your ideas. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/135 "2021-03-05T21:23:18Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > They only get people fired, silence dissent, make the majority fear to speak their minds… all in the service of forcing us to accept their secular religion, complete with original sin and catechism… Wow, the lunacy. Am I silencing you if I don’t ask to sign up for your newsletter? ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/136 "2021-03-05T21:26:00Z")
Problem with disingenuous fools like you is that anything to the right of Stalin is labeled hate speech. That’s why, normal people, actually work towards promoting individual liberty instead of working towards totalitarianism cloaked in wokeness. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/137 "2021-03-05T21:27:35Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > That’s why, normal people, actually work towards promoting individual liberty instead of working towards totalitarianism cloaked in wokeness. I’m sorry, but I didn’t order the word salad. Cobb, please. Thank you. ETA: [**my stock is going up**](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1212), **Octopus !** ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/138 "2021-03-05T21:27:58Z")
Individual liberty, as in Amazon and Twitter’s individual liberty to tell racists and bigots to pound sand, right? ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/139 "2021-03-05T21:29:06Z")
Yeah a sentence is word salad. That’s why a sentence with a list in it is so hard for you to parse in the minimum wage thread. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271/140 "2021-03-05T21:30:34Z")
It’s amazing (or maybe entirely predictable) how Demontree continually refuses to answer questions as to whether she thinks Amazon should be able to decline from selling books that advocate for the legalization of pedophilia, or for re-enslaving black people, etc. At most she’ll give some milquetoast “maybe” and then pretend it doesn’t matter. But that’s the whole issue. If you think it’s okay for them to decline from selling pro-pedophilia books, then there’s no broad philosophical disagreement – it’s just about where to draw the line. And that’s really what the debate has been all along. Some conservatives are pissed that the line has changed – that no longer was it, generally, just minorities, women, etc., who dared challenged the white supremacist and patriarchal status quo getting “canceled” – now conservative whites face the possibility of what they used to dish out. Just another demonstration that the fundamental basis of modern conservatism is that there must be an in-group for whom the law protects but does not bind, and everyone else, whom the law binds but does not protect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-christian-bookstores-allowed-to-ban-books/937271.md?page=8)