Bible pulled for younger kids in some Utah schools after ‘vulgar’ content complaint

The Bible will be removed from younger grades in a Utah public school district after a parent complained of “violent” and “vulgar” content, according to multiple reports.

The book challenge gained national attention after the parent first complained under a new state law passed last year, Fox 8 reported.

The parent wrote in their complaint that “they were frustrated by the books being removed from school libraries” in months prior — “with conservative groups across the country and in Utah taking aim at literature they call ‘inappropriate,’ and which has particularly focused on books written about the LGBTQ community,” The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

“Incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation ... 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,” the outlet said the parent wrote, saying it was time to remove “one of the most sex-ridden books around.”

A district committee reviewed the entire text of the King James version of the Bible and found it “does not contain sensitive material as defined in Utah Code 76-10-1227, 76-10-1201 or 76-10-1203,” Davis School District spokesperson Christopher Williams told McClatchy News in an email.

But the committee decided to keep the book on school library shelves “only at the high school level based on age appropriateness due to vulgarity or violence,” Williams said.

Books are pulled immediately after a review committee makes a decision, he said.

Now the decision has been appealed, and the Board of Education will ultimately decide whether to restore the book to school library shelves.

Williams said the district estimates seven or eight elementary and junior high schools had the Bible on library shelves.

School is already out for summer in Davis County and resumes Aug. 17.

A 2022 report from PEN America found a vocal group of small, conservative collectives were behind efforts to ban LGBTQ+ books in schools, McClatchy News previously reported.

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