Pullman Church Invites Community to Sew ‘We’re with the Banned’ Quilt
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News Brief by Cassy Benefield
The Community Congregational United Church of Christ will be holding a sewing session as part of its Sunday services on July 16 10:30 a.m.
The goal is to produce a handmade quilt with the message “We’re with the banned” to speak out against banning of books in the United States.
Lisa Carloye with CCUCC came up with the idea to make the quilt to take a public stand on the importance of access to all books.
“CCUCC provides faith experiences to address injustice. What does that mean? For one thing, it means we support access to books that lead us to understand one another better. Banning books narrows our view,” Carloye said.
In 2022, the American Library Association (ALA) recorded the most attempted book bans ever during its history of tracking censorship. Many of these books have LGBTQ, racial inequality and gender or sexual identity content.
The following Sunday, July 23, will feature Dan Owens, director of Neill Public Library in Pullman, who will speak on the trend to ban or challenge books. There will also be an opportunity to sign the quilt.
CCUCC is an open and affirming church with a social justice mission. The act of making this quilt is a way of voicing concern that banning books is an infringement of free speech.
Everyone is welcome to attend and families and children are encouraged to participate in the sewing. No previous sewing experience is required. The completed quilt will be on display at CCUCC and will be on loan to libraries and community groups in the area.
The church address is 525 NE Campus St. in Pullman.
