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As the most reliable and balanced news aggregation service on the internet, DML News App offers the following information published by HUFFPOST.COM:
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — 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.
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 Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” and John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” following a 2022 state law requiring districts to include parents in decisions over what constitutes “sensitive material.”
A district spokesperson, Chris Williams, said it doesn’t differentiate between requests to review books. The reviews are handled by a committee of made up of teachers, parents and administrators in the predominantly conservative community where most people are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The committee published its decision in an online database of review requests and did not elaborate on its reasoning or which passages of the Bible it found overly violent or vulgar.
The ban comes as conservative parent activists descend on school boards and statehouses throughout the United States, raising alarm over the sex and violence discussed in schools.
Currently, it is unknown who or what group requested the Bible to be banned from Davis schools. The district has refused to identify the person or group, citing a school board privacy policy.
The complaint shows that the parent noted the Bible contains instances of prostitution, incest, and rape.
“Utah Parents United left off one of the most sex-ridden books around: The Bible. You’ll no doubt find that the Bible (under state law) has ‘no serious values for minors’ because it’s pornographic by our new definition,” the complaint states.
The Bible only remains in high schools because the review committee determined it didn’t qualify under Utah’s definition of what’s pornographic or indecent.
“I don’t want people to be able to say, ’I don’t want the Bible in the library,” Arkansas Democratic state Sen. Linda Chesterfield stated.
A parent frustrated by efforts to ban materials from schools convinced a suburban district that some Bible verses were too vulgar or violent for kids. https://t.co/6WXnAOx3Ae
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) June 3, 2023
To get more information about this article, please visit HUFFPOST.COM.
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