Current Events > Utah school district bans the Bible

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://apnews.com/article/book-ban-school-library-bible-fc025c8ccf30e955aaf0b0ee1899608a

The Good Book is being treated like a bad book in Utah after a parent frustrated by efforts to ban materials from schools convinced a suburban district 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 scripture in response to a parental complaint. The district has removed other titles, including Sherman Alexies The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and John Greens Looking for Alaska, following a 2022 state law requiring districts to include parents in decisions over what constitutes sensitive material.

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 doesnt differentiate between requests to review books and doesnt 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.

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 districts privacy policy, its 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 childrens 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 parents complaint, dated Dec. 11, said. It later went on to add, Youll no doubt find that the Bible (under state law) has no serious values for minors because its pornographic by our new definition.

The review committee determined the Bible didnt qualify under Utahs definition of whats pornographic or indecent, which is why it remains in high schools, Williams said. The committee can make its own decisions under the new 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.

The Bible has long found itself on the American Library Associations 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 dont want people to be able to say, I dont 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 childrens 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.

brestugo posted...

And the Book of Mormon could be next.

As of the Mormons in Utah would allow that, laws be damned.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/80464215

I consider this a W.

Strider102 posted...

I consider this a W.

Well, if they're going to apply the law consistently, they have to.

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/editorial/2023/06/02/tribune-editorial-bible-is-banned/

When a government starts banning books, the inevitable result is that somebody somewhere is going to ban a book you like.

brestugo posted...

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/editorial/2023/06/02/tribune-editorial-bible-is-banned/

Not accurate to conservatives. If they read they likely wouldn't be conservatives.

Turn tables

Solar_Crimson posted...

As of the Mormons in Utah would allow that, laws be damned.

Yeah, I don't know if their church has an official stance on book bans, but I think they have enough clout in that state to get that law changed.

Lol

No, not like that!

brestugo posted...

"Parents who have pushed for more say in their childrens 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."

That's the, um, charitable interpretation. A more truthful statement would be that they simply don't want their children taught about matters like gender, sexuality and race.

brestugo posted...

Yeah, I don't know if their church has an official stance on book bans, but I think they have enough clout in that state to get that law changed.

I live here, they run the entire state...
They want Mormonism only with this

Mormon bible next, please!

brestugo posted...

The Good Book is being treated like a bad book

why are journalists like this

But more seriously

Zeldagood.avi

Conservatives don't care. They don't see this as getting caught with their pants down. Any parent who cares remotely about the bible or the book of mormon has a copy at home they can use to indoctrinate their kids. As long as they can continue to pull black, brown, and queer culture from the shelves they'll let a thousand school bibles burn along with it.

That's surprising to hear about Mormons-ville.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Yeah, kind of a bittersweet gotcha.

Needs to be state wide only exempting religious schools.

Isn't Utah predominately Mormon as well? Like this is surprising.

name_unknown posted...

Needs to be state wide only exempting religious schools.

Let's make this shit nationwide tbh