On Wednesday, February 2, an unsettling scene unfolded in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Around a burning pile of books stood a pastor and members of his congregation burning books such as Twilight, Harry Potter and other similar titles as well as crystals and other “witchcraft” items.

Mount Juliet’s Global Vision Bible Church is a religious congregation in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, that claims to take on “demon forces by holding an old fashioned book burning” as worded by The Wild Hunt website. The Pastor, Greg Locke, claims that most churches let the devil capitalize on the fact that the topic is deemed uncomfortable. The book burning was in order for his followers to “stop allowing demonic influences into your home.” 

“I ain’t going to be suiciding myself no time soon,” pastor Greg Locke said before the book burning. “I ain’t messing with witches no more, I ain’t messing with witchcraft… I ain’t messing with demons… I’ll call all of them out in the name of Jesus Christ… We’re not playing games. Witchcraft and accursed things must go. If you think we’re crazy then scroll on.” 

He continues to target specific pop culture books, “all your Twilight books and movies. That mess is full of spells, demonism, shapeshifting and occultism. Bring tarot cards… healing crystals, idol statues, spell books…” 

 

Pastor Locke as a United States citizen has many other beliefs that are stereotypical right wing views. He is an anti-vaxxer, and he denies any existence of COVID-19. He downplays the pandemic, claiming, “They’ve been afraid of the common cold. The American church has been baptized in fear.” He even called the Tennessee Governor, Bill Lee, a ‘coward’ for the actions taken during the height of the pandemic.  

 

Although it might be easy to believe that the opinions of this church are in the minority, that may unfortunately not be the case. This church is not alone in their beliefs. Just last month the graphic novel about the horror of the holocaust, Maus, was banned by a tennessee school district. The book was called “disturbing,” “terrifying” and “troubling” in a CNN interview, but Maus is nothing more or less then a realistic interpretation of the holocaust. Maus was banned for “Unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depriction of violence and suicide.” The characters are animals and therefore are not considered to be nude. 

It is vital to tell history as it is so that the importance and horror is conveyed. The holocaust was a real event that happened, and should be bolded in our education so that we do not allow something so horrifying to happen ever again. Yet, this era of Germany started by burning books.

Maus is just one of the books that have been banned from school districts across the United States, and can’t be separated from the ideas growing in these states’ legislators. Recent bills such as Senate Bill 167 wants to ban opinion on Nazism and information that helps encourage free thinking. The bill also sets restrictions on examination of past mistakes by banning books about the holocaust and slavery. The similarities between burning books and setting strict guidelines about what can be and cannot be taught about history is a recipe for disaster. I’ve talked to many different people I know about this topic. One person I talked to said, “the one thing we all used to be able to agree on is that Nazi’s are bad.” With the developing teaching restrictions and recent demonstrations that line is beginning to grow blurry.  

This is not the first time that the pastor has burned books. In 2019 “The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American,” a book by Andrew Seidel, was also burned. Locke claimed that the book was “ridiculous” and denied that the Founders of this country did not consider the nation a Christian nation. Despite how much Locke claims this truth is “nonsense” it is the only truth nonetheless. Despite the heavy Christan influences in our government since its creation, as said in the first amendment “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Additionally, no president is required to be Christian. In fact, many aren’t. John F. Kennedy was the only president before Joe Biden that was Catholic. There is no required religion in our government. The belief that the Christan way is the only way is an old fashioned and harmful view that can cause much unnecessary conflict. 

“We are not apologizing for the truth,” Locke says, but their actions speak louder than words. That is the constant truth. Actions always speak louder than words. This is a demostracion of hatred. Though not in itself violent, the fire is reminiscent of a violent time. That truth cannot be ignored.

Regardless of what the pastor is attempting to do, what it is successfully doing is spreading fear among the bystanders. We’ve seen both book burning and witch hunting in the past. Now more than ever we need to remember those events so that they do not repeat themselves. We do not want to repeat our history and see once again up to 50,000 people killed for alleged witchcraft or over 17 million killed for their religion or race. Although the people who agree with these ideas have not committed any violent crimes, one thing can be agreed: these people are filled with hatred. Whether that be for the devil or something more human has not yet been truly revealed. What is true is that hatred and anger like this lead to violence. We should not turn a blind eye to this behavior. We need to fight for peace, and object to repeating our history. As said by Heinrich Heine, “Where they burn books, at the end they also burn people.” 

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