Only in Tennessee?

On January 10, 2022, in an unanimous vote, the board of trustees of east Tennessee McMinn County Schools removed the Pulitzer Prize winning Maus from its eight-grade schools curriculum. The board said the book had "rough language" and "unnecessary" profanity (e.g. eight words, including "damn"), a small drawing of a nude woman drawn as a mouse, mentions of murder, violence, and suicide. 

The board declared it did not concur with its community values. "It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids." 

Board member Tony Allman said, according to meeting minutes. "Why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff? It is not wise or healthy."   

On February 2, 2022 head pastor Greg Locke at Global Vision Bible Church of Tennessee led a book burning of  copies of "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" to rid "demonic" influences. The event was live-streamed on Facebook to denounce "witchcraft," and rid of "demonic" influences.

He said in an Instagram post."It's witchcraft 100 percent."

The "Harry Potter" books have been banned several times before. In 2019, Tennessee pastor Father Dan Reehil of the Catholic academy of St. Edward School removed the popular book series from the school's library, saying in part in an email

"These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception. The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text. I have consulted several exorcists, both in the United States and in Rome, and they have recommended removing the books from circulation."