Let him who is without sin remove the first book.. The free adaptation of the religious word serves to describe what is going on in the world. Utahinside United States of America. there March last year one is confirmed law limiting “sensitive material” in libraries and school classroomsdefined by the legislation as “pornographic or indecent“Now this rule is part of a wave of conservatives that swept through the red states and regularly targeted studies that tackled Europe’s problems. about race, gender identity or the LGBTQ community, figuratively and literally in a boomerang effect of biblical dimensions turned to religious books.
Bill drafted by Republicans and supported by conservative groups Utah Parents United (Utah Parents United) allows anyone to request that they review the contents of books to determine whether they will remain available to minors. Since its approval, hundreds of requests have been made against books that almost always contain LGBTQ content. But on December 11 Davis school district parentNearly 74,000 students in 92 schools applied to the norm Demanding the removal of the Bible.
“Icest, onanism, rape, dildos…”
In that adult complaint of the Bible “one of the books with more sex” can be found. and I remember you talking aboutincest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, oral sex rape, dildos, and even infanticide”. The complainant made a statement in the eight-page document, which was not made public but accessed by local media. list with examples of passages.
“Surely they are the Bible’s has no serious value for minors Because he pornographic according to our new definition“Get this PORN out of our schools!” The text also resorted to satire to make it clear that he had no intention of mocking any book’s veto. “I am grateful to the Utah Legislature and the Utah Parents Association for doing this. bad faith process Much easier and much more efficient. Now we can all ban books and you don’t even need to read them or adjust them for reality,” he wrote. “Damn, you don’t even need to see the book!”
With the law finding inappropriate a book that explicitly contained sexual warning, masturbation, sexual intercourse, sodomy or touching, the panel tasked with examining the petition ended its work on May 22 and announced a decision: They will keep the Bible in high school centersconsidering that it does not violate the law in terms of or “sensitive material”, but they also agreed withdrawal from primary and secondary education concluding that rudeness or violence caused The Bible is not suitable for younger students. Actually it’s already happened withdrawn from seven or eight schools.
Between April 2022 and May 2023, the same county withdrew 31 books it found “to be of no serious value to minors,” retaining 10 more contested and nine more for certain ages only. He is still reviewing 47 other books.
Because December’s complaint referred to the King James Bible (one of the most common versions of Christianity in the US), schools with other versions will keep copies after last week’s decision. appealed By another father or mother trying to restore the Bible for all students. A three-member committee will now review this resource and make a recommendation to the School Board, which will make the final decision.
Also last week, on Friday, someone book of mormonsFounding text of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, headquartered in the state, of which approximately 2.2 million of its 3.4 million residents are Mormons. In this case, the adult made the following point in particular: violence from this book containing descriptions of wars, beheadings and kidnappings.
“Mocking” or “significant precedent”
Utah Parents United accused the person who called for the removal of the Bible “to do so with the apparent aim of undermining parents who are working diligently to protect children from harmful stimuli in schools.” also at the beginning Ken Ivory, HE republican state congressman Enforcing Utah law, action is a “regiment” and one “political show”. “The law was for a purpose, and things like that are so unfortunate, sad,” he said, “it’s just a slap in the face to parents who are trying to provide a healthy learning environment for all students in schools.”
However, last week, The deputy changed his word.. He defended the School Board’s decision to remove the Bible from primary and secondary classrooms and libraries, and argued that the Bible is a book. “complex book” for the smallest. “Traditionally the Bible in the United States best taught and understood at homeArguing that they never sought a veto, but instead determined what was appropriate for each age group, the legislator applauded the biblical decision as “an important precedent”.
Republican Senator Todd Weiler, who sponsored the bill in the State Upper House, also stated that he hopes the decision will be overturned, but that he values the removal of the Bible in his statement to the ‘Washington Post’: “fair exchange” In exchange for being able to remove other books it considers to have “explicit adult content”.
A conservative and organized wave
This book bansa part of political and cultural war in full swing in the USA doubled last year As recent reports from the American Library Association and PEN America, an organization working for freedom of expression, confirm.
According to the PEN document, about a third of vetoes were due to new state laws, and Most of the 847 books remember registered five states: Utah, Texas, Florida, Missouri, and South Carolina. All have Republican-controlled governors and legislatures. Texas, Florida and Missouri also had Bible challenges similar to those in Utah, according to ‘Education Week’.
According to the report, the vast majority of complaints against books American Library Associationopposed to works written by the public. LGBTQ or community of color and addressing these issues or gender. This analysis is also trends which is a organized political campaignSomething that is also confirmed by ‘post’ analysis, which is Majority of 1,000+ challenges made by the same to the books 11 people.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the library association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, said that anti-Bible protests “certainly swept school boards and state legislators.” Think more carefully about what they are doing. highlights the fact. censorship is not the answer HE every book is open to censorship”, he declared to ‘The New York Times’. “This is not what we want in this country.”