SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah school board which had ordered the removal of the Bible from certain school libraries when it was found in violation of Utah’s draconian new “anti-porn” law, reversed coursed on Tuesday after community pressure to exempt scriptural descriptions of incest, rape and other sexual matters from consideration.
The Davis School Board had previously determined that the Bible was age-appropriate for continued inclusion in high school libraries, but not in junior high or elementary school libraries.
As XBIZ reported, in December 2022 a Davis District parent decided to challenge the arbitrary, expansive nature of the state’s legal redefinitions of “pornography,” by flagging the Bible in an official complaint for its numerous instances of sexual content.
Calling it “one of the most sex-ridden books around,” the parent asked the school district to review the Bible for “inappropriate content.”
“Incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide,” the parent wrote on Dec. 11, 2022. “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.”
HB 374 — state legislation that cites Utah Code Ann. § 76-10-1227 — was passed in 2022 and bans books containing “pornographic or indecent” content from Utah schools and libraries.
The Bible became then entangled in a months-long process because Utah parents have ramped up their challenges of vast number of books they consider “pornographic” or “obscene.”
“We don’t differentiate between one request and another,” a school district spokesperson told the Salt Lake City Tribune in March. “We see that as the work that we do.”
The original complaint included an eight-page list of Bible passages including content involving sex, alcohol, nudity, rape and incest.
“Get this porn out of our schools,” the complaint urged. “If the books that have been banned so far are any indication for way lesser offenses, this should be a slam dunk.”
An Attempt at Draconian Censorship Temporarily Backfires
According to Utah’s new censorship rules, the challenged books also may not be left on library shelves during a review.
According to state attorneys, who acted in tandem with right-wing lobby Utah Parents United, those assessing the suspected material do not have to follow the “taken as a whole” provision established in 1973 by the Miller Test, which differentiates between obscenity and First Amendment-protected pornography.
“If there is a scene involving any of those acts, it should be immediately removed,” the Salt Lake City Tribune reported.
This week, however, under substantial pressure from community leaders, including LDS Church leadership, the Board of Education of the Davis School District “voted unanimously to allow the Bible to be included in school libraries at all levels (elementary, junior high, and high school), reversing a previous committee-based decision which restricted inclusion of the Bible to high school libraries only,” the Board announced through an official statement.
“Based on its assessment of community standards, the appeal committee determined that the Bible has significant, serious value for minors which outweighs the violent or vulgar content it contains,” the Board ruled on Tuesday, in direct opposition of how non-religious books throughout the state have been assessed since the passing of the new “anti-porn” measures.
The appeal committee “considers the Bible to be age-appropriate and recommended that it be retained in school libraries at all levels.”
The Board also absolved itself of any intimations that “the initial committee’s decision, or the district’s policy/process have been intentionally manipulated to undermine Utah’s sensitive materials law (HB 374).
“This is wholly untrue,” the Board declared. “The district has always acted with intent to uphold the law and maintain school libraries free from harmful material.”
An appeal to a similar challenge regarding the Book of Mormon is yet to be decided.
Main Image: Brigid Balzen portraying Biblical temptress Salome performing a sultry dance in the 1961 Hollywood religious epic “King of Kings.”
