Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds, Fourth Edition

Book excerpt: Censorship of religious and philosophical speculation is as old as history and as current as today's headlines. Many of the world's major religious texts, including the Bible, the Talmud, the Koran, and others, have been suppressed, condemned, or proscribed at some time. Works of secular literature that touch upon religious beliefs or reflect dissenting views have also been suppressed. Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds, Fourth Edition profiles the censorship of many of these works. These include the frequently challenged Harry Potter series, which critics accuse of promoting witchcraft and anti-family themes, as well as Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Entries include: The Age of Reason (Thomas Paine) The Analects (Confucius) The Battle for God (Karen Armstrong) The Bible Children of the Alley (Naguib Mahfouz) Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant) The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Galileo Galilei) Discourse on Method (Rene Descartes) Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra) The Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling) His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman) The Jewel of Medina (Sherry Jones) The Koran The Last Temptation of Christ (Nikos Kazantzakis) On the Origin of Species (Charles Darwin) The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie) The Talmud Thirteen Reasons Why (Jay Asher) and more.