Utah school district considers banning Bible after parent appears to complain it is pornographic

(Daily Caller) – A Utah parent appears to have complained to a school district that the Bible is pornographic and suggested it be banned from school libraries.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the parent claimed in a request that the Bible violates a 2022 law related to “sensitive materials” and was frustrated over books being removed by school libraries.

The Bible has “incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide” and claimed that it has no “serious value for minors” under state law, the complaint alleged, and thus should be considered pornographic material.

Chris Williams, a Davis County School District spokesperson said the request to ban the Bible will be reviewed, according to ABC4.

“We don’t jump to conclusions, we go through the entire process. We don’t blow off one request because we think it’s silly,” Williams said.

A Utah law passed to ban books containing “pornographic or indecent” content from Utah schools is getting a new request for a title to be reviewed: The Bible.https://t.co/SXZTbDHugX

— The Salt Lake Tribune (@sltrib) March 23, 2023

In the request to the school board obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, the parent pointed to actions of the parental rights group Utah Parents United regarding their efforts to challenge books in schools.

“Now we can all ban books and you don’t even need to read them or be accurate about it,” the request read. “Heck, you don’t even need to see the book! Ceding our children’s education, First Amendment Rights, and library access to a white supremacist hate group like Utah Parents United seems like a wonderful idea for a school district literally under investigation for being racist.”

Utah Parents United rejected any equivalency between their work and the latest complaint.

“It is clear from the petition that this is a political stunt and the parent does not understand the law or the seriousness of the challenge process. None of the passages from the Bible meet the Bright Line Standard for pornographic content. Not every reference to sexual activity meets the criteria for removal from a school library,” Public Relations Director of Utah Parents United, Corinne Johnson, told the Daily Caller.

She said that the 2022 law provides clear guidelines: if there are descriptions or depictions of “human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal; acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, or sodomy; or fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals or pubic region,” then it should not be allowed anywhere on the school grounds.

“The guideline is meant to provide a clear standard for what is acceptable for K-12 school libraries. The law is meant to protect children from unrestricted access to explicit sexual content in K-12 schools,” she said.