A parent in Utah filed a complaint regarding the Bible after becoming frustrated with book challenges and bans in their school district.
The Bible was considered because the Davis School District took the parent’s objection seriously. This Monday, the district decided to officially ban religious books from the libraries of the elementary and middle schools because of their “vulgarity or violence.”
Bibles will be removed from classrooms even as they close for the summer as soon as the ban is implemented.
The parent’s complaint, which received widespread attention when it was revealed in March, makes reference to a Utah statute passed in 2022 that forbids any books with “pornographic or indecent” content.
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In the statement, the Bible is referred to as “one of the most sex-ridden books around,” and passages from the Bible that they feel break the law are attached.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and other titles have been banned from schools under Utah law.
Let’s see what NBC News said about this news on Twitter, and tune in with us for more detail:
A Utah school district took the Bible off some bookshelves, officials say, following a complaint from a parent upset by book bans who was hoping to expose the “bad faith process.” https://t.co/jYH2Q5jHgl
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 2, 2023
The committee tasked with reviewing the Bible for the Davis School District concluded that although it does not violate state law, it should only be taught to pupils in high school. Another parent has already appealed the judgment, and the outcome of that appeal will be determined at a subsequent open hearing.
Republican state senator Ken Ivory changed his mind about the prohibition in a statement he posted on Thursday after previously labeling the complaint “mockery.” He says the Bible is a “challenging read” for kids and is “best taught, and best understood, in the home, and around the hearth, as a family.”
Although they were primary challenges rather than outright bans, the Bible came in sixth on the American Library Association’s list of the most challenged or prohibited books in 2015. Since then, the Bible has not been included on the list.
Only one case of the Bible being taken down while it was being reviewed in Texas was noted by PEN America in 2022. The Davis School District was also asked to check the Book of Mormon for objectionable content the day after this decision’s announcement.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a significant religion in the state, is founded on the Book of Mormon. A district representative told the Salt Lake Tribune they intend to create a similar committee to examine this material.
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