A school district in Utah has banned the Bible for "vulgarity and violence" due to a legislation passed law that allowed for the banning of books that are deemed "pornographic or indecent" from schools.
The Davis School District has limited the access to the King James Version of the Bible to high-school aged students only after a complaint from a parent in 2022 drew attention to the pitfalls of the law.
The law allows parents to submit requests for the removal of books that contain "pornographic" or "indecent material."
So far, the law has been used to target books referencing LGBTQ+ individuals until one parent complained the Bible is "one of the most sex-ridden books around."
“Incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide. You’ll no doubt find that the Bible, under Utah Code Ann. § 76-10-1227, has ‘no serious values for minors’ because it’s pornographic by our new definition.”
Republican Rep. Ken Ivory is now calling for all Utah schools to "thoroughly review the age/appropriateness of all instructional materials."
He noted the King James Bible is "a challenging read for elementary or middle school children on their own. Traditionally, in America, the Bible is best taught, and best understood, in the home, and around the hearth, as a family.”
The Book of Mormon is also being challenged in the same school district.
There are reports that officials have removed any copies of the Bible, not part of the curriculum, from school shelves.
It has been reported most recent book bans stemmed from a handful of parents complaining. Many cases show books can be removed from school libraries even if not part of the curriculum, and even if only one parent files a complaint.
Earlier this year, four books were banned for primary school students in Florida after one parent objected to the titles, arguing they were inappropriate.
One of these was a collection of poems by Amanda Gorman, including her 'The Hill We Climb' piece written for the last presidential inauguration.
It was stated during the first half of 2022-23 school year, some 1,477 individual books were banned across the US, increasing 28% compared to six months before.
A poll conducted in 2022 found over 70% of parents oppose book banning, and many school districts cave to pressure from parental complaints.
They choose to follow the side of caution rather than risk pushback, meaning an overwhelming amount of books banned targeted stories by or about people of colour and LGBTQ+ individuals.
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