John Worden is again complaining about the Marshalltown Library. He wants the Library to buy The Epoch Times, publication tied to a religious organization. Mr. Worden must realize that to place that publication in the Library would be an implicit endorsement of a religious organization. Mr. Worden never mentions this religious organization or its ties to The Epoch Times. Instead, Mr. Worden says that the Library did something wrong when it did. . .what? When it rejected his attempt to get the Library to evangelize for The Epoch Times’ religious organization! Mr. Worden never mentions what he cannot honestly deny and what The Epoch Times itself acknowledges — it is connected to and evangelizes for a religious organization.

I have no problem with any given religious organization, but in America, the government — and that includes the Library — has no business engaging in religious evangelization. Many people in America evangelize for their religion, going door to door to convince people of their beliefs. Those are the tactics of honest evangelizers. But does Mr. Worden actually stop by houses and try to convince people of the correctness of The Epoch Times’ religion? Honest evangelizers do not hide religious content and then presume to force the government into supporting that religion by harassing the Library.

The problem here is that Mr. Worden wanted the Library to do something, and the Library, after reviewing the request, declined and decided not to do what he wanted. And so he complains. But why doesn’t he file a lawsuit if he is so certain of his position? The Court system exists to resolve these types of disputes. If Mr. Worden has a legitimate complaint, he should seek judicial relief.

Finally, it is important to remember that in his September letter, Mr. Worden invited people to see his publication, in a special event he organized at the Library. Then, in his October “Statement of concern” printed in the Times-Republican, Mr. Worden complained that no one had shown up in September to see his publications. Mr. Worden complains when he doesn’t get his way, and then he complains when no one shows up to read his publications. But apparently he won’t do what people with legitimate complaints do–he won’t take his complaints to a judge.