Harry Potter and the ACLU

This story ran in Cape Girardeau's Southeast Missourian on May 28:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri announced Tuesday via news release that it has filed a suit on behalf of a part-time librarian in Poplar Bluff, Mo., who was disciplined after she objected to participating in the promotion of a "Harry Potter" book.

The employee, Deborah Smith, had religious objections to the promotion, "which she believed encouraged children to worship the occult," according to the news release.

Library employees were expected to dress as witches and wizards at a July 21 Potter book release party at the library, an after-hours event, the release said. Smith asked to be excused from working that night due to her religious beliefs and was suspended for 10 days without pay and "suffered retaliation upon her return to work," the ACLU release said, going on to say the retaliation was so severe it forced Smith to quit.

The lawsuit was filed in district court in Cape Girardeau.

There are only two people in the world who know about this blog, and knowing both of you as I do, I bet this catches your eye.

I've known Debbie Smith since I was a kid, and most people in town think she's kind of a fruitcake. Her daughter is my sister's age, and they were good friends in elementary school. I was in high school choir with the daughter, and Mrs. Smith was around quite a bit, so I've had some contact with her.

So when this story broke and I only heard about half of it, I was the first to write it off as Debbie Smith being crazy. But it looks like it's more than that.

Debbie is a Southern Baptist at the moment. She's kind of made the rounds of the Evangelical (Baptist, Pentecostal, Church of Christ) churches in town, and always finds something to be dissatisfied with. She generally ends up leaving after a couple of years.

Now, I think it's a little bit strange to be that hardcore against something like Harry Potter. I'm not a fan myself, but I certainly don't think it promotes the occult or Satanism or anything like that. But Debbie does, and she's within her rights to think that.

The fact that Debbie experienced ridicule at work doesn't bother me too much. If you're around people, you're going to experience ridicule at some point in your life. It's just part of life, and part of being an adult is dealing with it.

The fact that she was disciplined for refusing to participate in this event, on the other hand, is a bigger deal. Much as I hate to say it, I think Debbie might be in the right, and the ACLU most likely has a case. We'll see what comes of it.