Utah has a law that requires committees to review any book submitted by parents via a web portal for removal from their district libraries. This law was put into place to remove books that might help kids understand themselves, or not feel bad about who they are, but are deemed "unchristian" because they might include a mention of private parts, or skin color, or choosing to wear the clothes you like. One parent realized that if books can be banned for such simple stuff, the Bible they were reading was FULL of the content this law seeks to ban.
The parent filed an 8-page complaint via the web portal. You can read it in this Salt Lake Tribune article.
So they've submitted a request for their school district in Davis County to now review the Bible for any inappropriate content.
"Incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide," the parent wrote in their request, listing topics they found concerning in the religious text. "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 code cited is the Utah law passed in 2022 to ban any books containing "pornographic or indecent" content from Utah schools, both in libraries and in the classroom. It came after outcry from conservative parents groups, who have been pushing to have titles removed.
The Salt Lake Tribune obtained a copy of the parent's petition for the book review of the Bible late Tuesday after submitting a public records request for it on March 9, asking for an expedited response, which was denied. Davis School District did not respond to The Tribune's request for comment then, but returned a call late Wednesday.
