Utah district bans Bible in elementary and middle schools after complaint calls it "sex-ridden"

A suburban school district in Utah has banned the Bible in elementary and middle schools after a parent frustrated by efforts to ban materials from schools argued that some Bible verses were too vulgar or violent for younger children. And the Book of Mormon could be next.

The 72,000-student Davis School District north of Salt Lake City removed the Bible from its elementary and middle schools while keeping it in high schools after a committee reviewed the Scriptures in response to a parental complaint. The district has removed other titles, including Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" and John Green's "Looking for Alaska," following a 2022 state law requiring districts to include parents in decisions over what constitutes "sensitive material."

CBS affiliate KUTV reports that the district review committee found that while the Bible does not contain sensitive material as defined by state law, it includes elements of "vulgarity or violence" that are not suitable for younger students.

On Friday, a complaint was submitted about the signature scripture of the predominant faith in Utah, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church. District spokesperson Chris Williams confirmed that someone filed a review request for the Book of Mormon but would not say what reasons were listed. Citing a school board privacy policy, he also would not say whether it was from the same person who complained about the Bible.

Representatives for the church declined to comment on the challenge. Members of the faith also read the Bible.

Williams said the district doesn't differentiate between requests to review books and doesn't consider whether complaints may be submitted as satire. The reviews are handled by a committee made up of teachers, parents and administrators in the largely conservative community.

The committee published its decision about the Bible in an online database of review requests and did not elaborate on its reasoning or which passages it found overly violent or vulgar.

This decision is sparking a debate online, KUTV reported.

"We're getting responses from both sides of the issue. 'I can't believe the decision was made,' or, 'I support the decision,'" Williams told the station.

Bob Johnson, the father of a primary school student in the district, told KUTV that he opposes the Bible's removal.

"I can't think of what's in the Bible that you would have to take out of it. It's not like there's pictures in it," he said.

The decision comes as conservative parent activists, including state-based chapters of the group Parents United, descend on school boards and statehouses throughout the United States, sowing alarm about how sex and violence are talked about in schools.

Because of the district's privacy policy, it's unknown who made the request for the Bible to be banned from Davis schools or if they are affiliated with any larger group.

A copy of the complaint obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune through a public records request shows that the parent noted the Bible contains instances of incest, prostitution and rape. The complaint derided a "bad faith process" and said the district was "ceding our children's education, First Amendment Rights, and library access" to Parents United.

"Utah Parents United left off one of the most sex-ridden books around: The Bible," the parent's complaint, dated Dec. 11, said. It later went on to add, "You'll no doubt find that the Bible (under state law) has 'no serious values for minors' because it's pornographic by our new definition."

The review committee determined the Bible didn't qualify under Utah's definition of what's pornographic or indecent, which is why it remains in high schools, Williams said. The committee can make its own decisions under the 2022 state law and has applied different standards based on students' ages in response to multiple challenges, he said.

An unnamed party filed an appeal on Wednesday.

Rep. Ken Ivory sponsored House Bill 374, the Utah law that was intended to keep pornographic materials from children in school libraries, KUTV reported. Ivory was asked by the station if the requests to remove religious works from school libraries were an unintended consequence of his legislation.

"No, not at all. What we're looking at is 'What's age-appropriate?' Many people have talked about book bans and this has nothing to do with a book ban. It's about what's age-appropriate for children in schools," Ivory said.

The Bible has long found itself on the American Library Association's list of most challenged books and was temporarily pulled off shelves last year in school districts in Texas and Missouri.

Concerns about new policies potentially ensnaring the Bible have routinely arisen in statehouses during debates over efforts to expand book banning procedures. That includes Arkansas — one of the states that enacted a law this year that would subject librarians to criminal penalties for providing "harmful" materials to minors, and creates a new process for the public to request materials be relocated in libraries.

"I don't want people to be able to say, 'I don't want the Bible in the library," Arkansas Democratic state Sen. Linda Chesterfield said during a hearing.

Parents who have pushed for more say in their children's education and the curriculum and materials available in schools have argued that they should control how their children are taught about matters like gender, sexuality and race.

EveryLibrary, a national political action committee, told The Associated Press last month it was tracking at least 121 different proposals introduced in legislatures this year targeting libraries, librarians, educators and access to materials. The number of attempts to ban or restrict books across the U.S. in 2022 was the highest in the 20 years, according to the American Library Association.

"If folks are outraged about the Bible being banned, they should be outraged about all the books that are being censored in our public schools," said Kasey Meehan, who directs the Freedom to Read program at the writers' organization PEN America.

Last month, Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem "The Hill We Climb" was restricted at an elementary school in Florida. Gorman, who made history as the youngest known inaugural poet after performing at President Biden's inauguration, said that she was "gutted" over the move.

In:
• Banned Books
• Utah