The Handmaid's Future, Pat Robertson's America

School Head Pulls Out Book from Curriculum

from Washington Times

Rejecting a committee recommendation, a school superintendent in Texas has pulled out The Handmaid's Tale from the district's AP English curriculum.

Ed Lyman, superintendent of the Judson Independent School District near San Antonio, decided to remove the book by Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood from the Advanced Placement English curriculum after a parent complained she found it sexually explicit and offensive to Christians, reports the San Antonio Express-News.

The decision overruled a committee of teachers, students and a parent, the report said. The committee has appealed to the school board, which is expected to give its decision Thursday, the report said.

Lyman said he found some of the descriptions in the book too sexually explicit for high school students. He said his beliefs as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints didn't influence his decision, the newspaper reported.

The Handmaid's Tale, which has won numerous awards, is the story of the United States after a coup. In an ensuing civil war, the book describes how a fundamentalist Christian regime revokes women's rights and uses a few as sexual slaves and breeders.