[The Saucepan Man]

Mr Bugtussle

One of the threads included a link to a religious "ranter" against LotR, but my point is (point #1), there was no substance there, no logical case, no Bible instruction as to how he arrived at his opinion. So I am still looking for the belief system.

If you are enquiring whether there is any formal "belief system" (in the sense of an organised religion) which advocates the banning of books such as LotR as one of its precepts, then clearly there is none. On the other hand, individuals such as Yusko the Ranter clearly interpret their religion as holding that any mention of magic and witchraft is contrary to their faith and therefore taboo (to the extent, in Yusko's case, that he considers any involvement with them merits eternal damnation). In that sense, the advocation of a ban on books such as LotR and HP is part of his belief system and that of others like him. And I would be surprised if this was limited to Chrisitanity. Most religions have their intolerant wings (for example, Mr Yusko's approach, if not his specific beliefs, is akin to that of extreme Islam, although I doubt that he would accept such a proposition in a million years).

the B-D'ers that disagree with the "ranter" are just as wrong when they say he has no "right" to condemn it or them, or whatever. He has the right to disagree with you, or me. I personally believe he is wrong, but he has the right to be "wrong" in my eyes.

You are, of course, strictly speaking correct. But I think that you are interpreting people's use of the word "right" rather too narrowly. I don't think that anyone is suggesting (or would be, if they thought about it) that this guy has no legal right to express his views. Really, they are just saying much the same as you (albeit perhaps more clumsily so), ie that what he says is in their opinion not right, ie it is "wrong". I can understand people in this forum (a Tolkien forum, after all) expressing their views in such forceful terms, particularly those of the Christian faith themselves who find their beliefs and sacred texts being twisted by individuals such as Yusko in this way.

My point #3 was, the B-D'ers were going off "half-cocked" about a "ban" on The Lord of the Rings that never really happened. Then when the mistake was indicated on the thread, some B-D'ers continued to rant and rave about how it was wrong... Anyone feel embarrassed yet?

I would imagine that this is the result of people not reading the entire thread before posting (a practice that I would most certainly discourage). Nevertheless, even if the specific ban being discussed on that thread never came into effect, LotR has, I believe, been banned in some schools and communities in the US (and possibly elsewhere in the world too).

in many school circumstances, particularly private (non-taxpayer) or religious schools, the authorities have every right to set the academic tone, rules, content, etc. So all B-D'ers disagreeing (again about the issue of rights) were wrong.

Again, I think that you are being unduly restrictive in your interpretation of people's use of the word "right". Of course, there are undoubtedly areas where schools have the legal right to ban books such as LotR. The question is whether it is "right" for them to do so in a wider sense of the word. Personally, I consider any restriction on freedom of speech, save in very limited circumstances (such as where necessary for national security or to protect children and other vulnerable sections of society), to be a breach of natural law and contrary to basic human rights. In my view, neither LotR nor HP falls within the limited circumstances noted above, and so I am happy to say that these schools have no right to impose such a ban. Yes, that's my subjective view, but it's one that I feel very confident in stating, and one which I am most happy to defend.