In 2022, the conservative US state of Utah passed a law allowing all books with pornographic or offensive content to be banned from schools. With the Bible it is now done. Parents of high school students in Davis County north of Salt Lake City believed the sacred text contained accounts of “incest, prostitution and rape,” the Associated Press (AP) reported Saturday.
72,000 students affected
When it comes to the 72,000 students in the district, the Bible remains accessible in the secondary schools. Parents’ concerns were particularly directed at the Old Testament for reports of “incest, masturbation, sexual acts with animals, prostitution.” […] and even infanticide,” says Ouest-France.
The complaint was filed on December 11, 2022. After review by a commission, it led to the removal of Bibles from elementary and secondary educational libraries. The states of Missouri and Texas had taken similar but temporary measures back in 2022.
A ban that makes people react
Other books are targeted by the authorities, including the Book of Mormon, one of the reference works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church. And this despite the fact that Utah is considered a Mormon stronghold. District spokesman Chris Williams confirmed that someone had requested a Book of Mormon review, but declined to elaborate on the reasons, the AP reports.
Kasey Meehan, director of the program “Freedom to read” of the association Pen International, which preaches freedom of the press, criticizes a selective outrage. Because the withdrawal of the Bible from schools has provoked violent reactions of displeasure: “If people are outraged by the ban on the Bible, they should be even more outraged by the ban on all books that have now disappeared from our public schools.” »