Utah school district puts Bible back on bookshelves after pushback: ‘Significant, serious value’

A school district in northern Utah on Tuesday reversed its prior decision to remove The Holy Bible from its middle and elementary schools.

The Davis School District determined the texts were appropriate for students and will now be available in all district libraries, district officials said at a board meeting on Tuesday. The reversal comes after 70 community members appealed last month’s decision to ban the Bible over claims it was not age-appropriate.

School board members voted unanimously to return the Bible to district libraries.

The district, located north of Salt Lake City, received a request in December for the Bible to be reviewed in response to the state’s “sensitive materials” law passed last year allowing residents to challenge books found in schools and libraries that they believe are inappropriate. The request argued that the Bible is “one of the most sex-ridden books around.”

UTAH DISTRICT BANS BIBLE IN ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS ‘DUE TO VULGARITY OR VIOLENCE’

Utah Parents United, one of the primary groups involved in curriculum battles, “left off one of the most sex-ridden books around: The Bible,” the challenge read, referring to parents’ efforts to remove books about sex, gender and critical race theory. 

“You’ll no doubt find that the Bible … has no serious values for minors because it’s pornographic by our new definition … If the books that have been banned so far are any indication for way lesser offenses, this should be a slam dunk,” it continued.

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 – made up of mostly parents – determined the Bible was not age-appropriate for middle or elementary school students. Appeals were filed shortly after the decision.

UTAH SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSIDERS BIBLE BAN UNDER NEW ‘SENSITIVE MATERIALS’ LAW

On Tuesday, the school board said an appeal committee, basing their assessment on community standards, determined the Bible has “significant, serious value for minors which outweighs the violent or vulgar content it contains.”

“The magnitude of the value of the Bible as a literary work outweighs any violence or profanity which may be contained in the book,” District Board Vice President Brigit Gerrard said at Tuesday’s meeting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.