Banned Books Week 2026

This week Interfaith Alliance is proud to join our partners at the American Library Association (ALA), librarians, educators, authors, and students across the country in celebrating Banned Books Week. Since 1982, this week has stood as a reminder that there are efforts to censor books and restrict our freedom to read. This year, that reminder feels especially salient. 

According to PEN America, there were more than 12,000 books banned across the country between July 2025 and June 2026. Texas alone accounts for at least 8,000 banned or restricted titles, and Florida follows with at least 3,000. Books by and about LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized communities continue to be the most likely books to be removed from shelves. Books by and about people of minority faiths are also being challenged and banned, including books written by or featuring characters from Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and other religious traditions. Every one of these bans does real harm. Whole communities are told their stories don’t matter. Students lose the chance to see themselves in what they read and to understand people whose lives look different than their own. 

That’s why we are grateful that Representative Jamie Raskin and Senator Brian Schatz reintroduced their Banned Books Week resolution, condemning book bans and censorship, and affirming the freedom to read is our constitutional right under the First Amendment. 

Interfaith Alliance has endorsed the resolution every year since 2023 when we hosted a Capitol Hill briefing with Rep. Raskin to highlight how people of diverse faiths are fighting to protect public schools and libraries.

Our work continues beyond the Hill. Through our Faith for Libraries campaign with the ALA and The Association for Rural & Small Libraries that grew from the simple belief that libraries and faith communities are natural allies. As our president, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush has stated, “Religious communities can and must stand up for our public libraries to ensure they remain places for people of all faiths and backgrounds to learn, grow, and connect.”

That is worth remembering this week, and every week.