Davis School District bans a version of the Bible in primary and middle schools

Photo: Davis School District.

FARMINGTON, Utah – The Davis School District is banning the King James Bible from many of their schools after a parent complained in March of this year that the Bible contained ‘sensitive material’.

After a law was passed in Utah in 2022, the Sensitive Materials in Schools act, parents have the ability to file complaints to the school district about books they believe contain inappropriate material.

According to the Sensitive Materials in Schools act, sensitive material that is ‘instructional material that is pornographic or indecent’. This is defined in the law as ‘human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal’, ‘acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse or sodomy’, and ‘fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals or pubic region.’

While the Davis review committee did not find the Bible to be explicitly pornographic, they believe it contains vulgarity and violence which is not appropriate in a school setting. Students are already out for Summer break, but the Bible will be banned and removed from primary and middle schools in the district.

Dozens of books in multiple school districts have been banned since the law was passed in 2022 by the State Legislature. The law pertains that parents and students can submit a formal request to ban a specific book from the school district, who will then review the book to determine if it does contain sensitive material.

According to the New York Post, the parent submitted a request anonymously and stated that the Bible is ‘one of the most sex-ridden books around’, and cited the book contains ‘incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape and even infanticide’ as reasons for its removal.

The decision to ban the Bible has already been appealed by another parent in the Davis School District, and the review committee will now have to decide if the book should remain banned or allowed back into primary and middle schools.