Global Courant
A northern Utah school district on Tuesday reversed its earlier decision to remove The Holy Bible from middle and elementary schools.
The Davis School District determined that the texts were appropriate for students and will now be available in all district libraries, district officials said at a board meeting Tuesday. The reversal comes after 70 community members appealed last month’s decision to ban the Bible over claims it was not age appropriate.
The school administrators voted unanimously to return the Bible to the district libraries.
The district, located north of Salt Lake City, received a request in December to review the Bible in response to the state’s “sensitive materials” law passed last year that allows residents to challenge books in schools and libraries that they think they are inappropriate. The petition argued that the Bible is “one of the most sex-ridden books out there.”
UTAH DISTRICT BAN’S BIBLE IN ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL ‘WAY OF VULGARITY OR VIOLENCE’
A northern Utah school district reversed its decision to remove The Holy Bible from middle and elementary schools. (Getty)
Utah Parents United, one of the main groups involved in curriculum battles, “left behind one of the most sex-ridden books around: the Bible,” the challenge read, citing parents’ efforts to critically promote books about sex, gender, and breed remove theory.
“You will no doubt find that the Bible…has no serious values for minors because it is pornographic by our new definition…If the books banned thus far are indicative of far lesser transgressions, this would be a slam dunk should be,” it went on.
The challenge also criticized a “bad faith process” and said the district was ceding “our children’s education, First Amendment rights, and library access” to Utah Parents United.
A review committee—mostly parents—determined that the Bible was not age-appropriate for high school or elementary school students. Shortly after the decision, an appeal was lodged.
UTAH SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSIDERS BIBLE BAN UNDER NEW ‘SENSITIVE MATERIALS’ LAW
A KJV Bible with palm cross and palm frond against a burlap background. (iStock)
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On Tuesday, the school board said an appeals committee, which based their review on community standards, determined that the Bible has “considerable, serious value to minors that outweighs the violent or vulgar content it contains.”
“The magnitude of the Bible’s value as a work of literature outweighs the violence or profanity it may contain,” Brigit Gerrard, county council vice president, said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
