Do you know that teaching The Catcher in the Rye has been challenged in many districts across the USA?  It has even been banned from the high school curriculum in some systems!

Book banning is only one form of censorship.  Censorship, of course, is nothing new.  It has always existed.  Somewhere,  sometime, someone has tried to control what is said, read, created, and, therefore, what is thought.  At different times, books, speech,  art, music, movies, television, and now the Internet  have been censored or banned because they've been seen as offensive, contradictory, or even dangerous to religious beliefs, political thought, or the moral principles or standards of society.  

According to the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." 

Take a look at the following censorship issues.  You may think you know exactly where you stand on the question of censorship.  Don't be so sure. . . .

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