Are Christians stealing books on the occult from libraries?

Question

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/05/15/MN191536.DTL

Librarians in small town Oklahoma seem to think so.

"Books about witchcraft may disappear because self-styled censors are stealing them to keep them out of others' hands. "We are a tiny library in eastern Oklahoma and our most often stolen materials pertain to witchcraft. It is my belief that these books are taken by those who want to censor the materials, not by those who want to study them," wrote a public librarian from Wister, Okla."

If I had proof, would I be asking?

I'm sure small town OK is teeming with people exploring the occult. It's probably an unfair accusation. What would a librarian know about the patrons, anyway?

Answer 1

i'm sure they are not stealing them, that would be against the 10 commandments.
maybe culling or cleansing.

Answer 2

I happen to have been in a library in my home town when I saw this family of 4 ( a husband, a wife, two children one a boy the other a girl) Well, the parent's where looking out and the children where writing in the books and ripping out pages of not only occult books but books from other religions such as islam, hindu and buddhists. Before I could find someone to report them they where gone. I felt so sad for those people and their ignorance.

With everyone saying it could be the person interested in keeping a book longer. Most libraries offer patrons extentions on materials, now the story does leave out the condition the books are returned back in. I also wonder how they are able too in the first place most libraries have anti theft systems in place.

Answer 3

My own perspective on this question, baring in mind I've known and dated a few Christians whilst being an atheist myself is that; All in all everybody is a good person deep down, all the people I met were nice although they all seemed as if I was a possible convert... when they realized that was out of the question, after a GRUELLING ceremony which I was dragged along to where people would stand up if they * I hope this answer was worth the flashbacks * praised the lord himself ! Anyway with that all out of the way, I feel the hierarchy of the system is corrupt and controlling people, and the people at the bottom of the ladder seem disinterested in anything unless it can be converted or is converted. On top of that almost every christian I have met was weak minded. It is a sad situation really, but like I said all people are good deep down :)

Answer 4

I worked in a small town library in SD for over 4 years. The few books on witchcraft that they ever had were stolen, and they only had SRW books to begin with. Also any books that had anything to do with homosexuality were also stolen. The librarians thought it was people trying to censor this stuff, not to steal it just to keep it.

Answer 5

Yup. Books on occult are the highest disappearing book in libraries all over the US. I live in a little town, and the library has those sensor things at the door, like the ones at Wal-Mart. Sometimes it's the Christians,. sometimes it's pagans afraid of going into an occult shop. I don't have a problem, I go to Half-Price Books. I think half of the people at the one I frequent are pagans.

Answer 6

It sounds possible. It is even bizarre enough to be probable.


I like the fact that they did make this point in the article:
Another reason that books about the occult, car repair, tests or sex disappear might be that people are really studying them. "What do these subjects have in common? They all require extensive practice at home, and it takes longer than the four-week checkout period to get good at it," wrote the Benicia librarian.

Nice article. thanks.

Answer 7

Someone is so my odds would be divided between kids wanting to learn more on the occult or Christians. I know locally, it was found to be Christians trying to censor. Occult and "anti" Christians books disappeared regularly and some who were caught were self professed Christians.

Answer 8

Wow, that's freaky. You know, I went down to our library and offered them abou 50 books out of my personal Occult Library, and they refused them, saying they'd put them up for sale, but not on the bookshelves. Well, if you've been to my library, you'd know there are very few Occult books in the library. (Do a search in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and see for yourself)

Answer 9

I don't think it is a fair assumption.
It could be Goths making a giant wall collage.
It could be Gamers postering their rooms, like decoupage.
Here in small town Ontario the librarian knows everything about everyone. Believe me, we know everything about her as well.

Answer 10

That is the opinion of a public librarian in Wister OK...hardly a fact..

Her opinion is wrong...

I live in an area that seems to have a high influence of occultists, wiccans, witches, dark magicians, satanism...it is a big problem.

We are routinely warned about our pets on certain days....keep them in...

The tagging is terrible..

Stores are broken into and things stolen often has an occult connection.

Our Libraries do not let these kind of books out...you want to look at them..fine..but do it there..

Believe me..Christians are not looking at these books..it would be a huge sin..

It is a well known and accepted presumption in our area that these materials will be stolen by the 'dark side' if you give them half a chance...

Answer 11

It's not beyond them. I had a friend working at a book sale for kids, and she said another volunteer deliberately left "The Golden Compass" in the boxes. My friend asked about it, and the lady said "They won't buy it if they don't know we have it."

So yeah they will stoop to low practices to keep people from having unapproved thoughts.