TEMECULA, Calif. – Parents at a California charter school are outraged after learning school librarians were instructed to purge the school of books with Christian themes, or those written or distributed by Christians.

“It’s alarming that any school library would attempt to purge books from religious authors. Indeed, some of the greatest literature of Western Civilization comes from people of faith,” said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute.

“Are they going to ban the sermons or speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? What about the Declaration of Independence, which invokes the laws of nature and nature’s God?,” he questioned in a press release.

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PJI contends a parent whose child attends Springs Charter Schools contacted the agency after learning the school’s library is removing books like “The Hiding Place,” by Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom, according to ChristianNews.net.

“The unidentified parent stated that they were advised by library personnel that they had been instructed to pull any Christian-themed publications, as well as any books written by Christian authors or distributed by Christian publishers,” according to the news site.

PJI, a legal organization based in Sacramento, sent a cease and desist letter to the district last month because its experts believe the school’s book purge violates the First Amendment.

“We  … do not allow sectarian materials on our state-authorized lending shelves,” Superintendent Kathleen Hermsmeyer wrote in response, according to Christian News. “We only keep on our shelves the books that we are authorized to purchase with public funds.”

She also wrote that “at no time, however, have we discriminated against Christian authors or publishing companies who create secular educational materials,” according to media reports.

“We are calling on Springs Charter Schools to immediately reverse their ill-conceived and illegal book-banning policy,” Dacus said in the press release, adding that PJI is “prepared to take further legal action” if the school doesn’t reverse course.

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Fox News columnist Todd Starnes attempted to contact district officials to discuss the school’s policy, but they did not respond.

He did, however, highlight the 1982 First Amendment Supreme Court case cited by PJI as legal precedent on the issue.

That ruling – in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico – justices wrote that “local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to ‘prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.”

“I oppose all book banning. If a book offends you, don’t read it,” Starnes wrote.

“The way I see it – book banning is just one step away from book burning. And I don’t mean to pour gasoline on the fire, but we all know what regime did that.”