> The other religious texts you mentioned are not part of the western civilization canon and did not have much effect on western literature.

Incorrect.

> To deny that contemporary American culture has its roots in European culture (i.e. western culture) is to deny [my] reality

FTFY, otherwise an ignorant and frankly naive take. There are dozens to hundreds of cultures that have influenced and rooted American culture, and you'd do kindly to remember that:

- The American Southwest is __heavily__ influenced by Spain and Mexican culture

- Louisiana is __heavily__ influenced by French and African culture

- Oklahoma, Alaska, Hawaii, the Dakotas, much of New England, and many others are __heavily__ influenced by Native American culture (Way down on the Chatahoochee, anyone?)

- The Black belt and most of cities are __heavily__ influenced and rooted in the reformation of Black culture after being ripped out of their homelands by slavery

- Blues, Rock, and Jazz all stem from African

- What you call "European" is probably English (so, wrong) or a confusing and tangled mess of different cultures that get grouped as "European/Western" and assumed to be one strand of "Christian" or another (I note you missed the Torah being listed, Catholic scripture being listed, etc.).

I strongly, strongly recommend that, if you are a citizen of the US, that you take pride in your own culture and learn where it _actually_ sources from -- of which you clearly care, given that you have chosen to make it _the_ supporting argument for why book bannings are okay and why an irrelevant text should be standard, non-optional reading in high school. The roots matter much less than what the culture currently is.

This is exactly what I meant when I said I was mystified.