WebinAAR | Government Book Bans in America

A Conversation with Recently Banned AAR Member Authors

On April 4, 2025, we learned that the U.S. Naval Academy removed nearly 400 books from its college library. Among the banned volumes are influential and award-winning books, including several key works in the study of religion in America that examine race, gender, and sexuality. In this webinAAR, several AAR member authors of the recently banned books will talk about the dangers of the book banning and related efforts to censor, restrict, and control what students and the public can read, learn, and know.

Participants will include Anthea Butler, Michael Eric Dyson, Robert P. Jones, Bryan Massingale, and Jim Wallis.

Books by AAR members who are among the banned books:

• Robert P. Jones White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity
• Jim Wallis America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America
• Michael Eric Dyson Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
• Anthea Butler. White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America
• Eddie Glaude Jr. Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul
• Bryan N. Massingale Racial Justice and the Catholic Church
• Rosemary Radford Ruether America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence

Read the AAR Board Statement: AAR Denounces Book Bans and Threats to Academic Freedom