History of Reading (part 2)

My favorite chapter in this reading assignment was "Forbidden Reading."  The idea that some people were forbidden to read is unfathomable to me.  I agree with Luther when he said, "...the salvation of the soul depended on each individual's ability to read God's word for himself and herself" (279).  As a Christian, I stand by his statement.  People should read the Bible for themselves and form their own opinions and beliefs.  If you only go by one person's interpretation, then you narrow your view and could be blind from the truth.  That is why the British slave owners forbade slaves from learning how to read.  "They feared the very idea of a 'literate black population' who might find dangerous revolutionary ideas in books... they realized that is slaves could read the Bible, they could also read abolitionist tracts, and that even in the Scriptures the slaves might find inflammatory notions of revolt and freedom" (279-280).  What I learned from this chapter was the fact that having the ability to access books and read them gives people the opportunity to cause a revolution in how the world operates.