Book banning across the country has led to frictive debate around the influence of parents and legislators in education, with many texts on LGBTQ and race equality repeatedly facing the chopping block.
The furor has in some cases inspired misinformation, such as one false claim earlier this year that 5-year-olds were being "targeted" with books teaching them they "don't have enough sex".
In a twist this week, one viral tweet claimed that a school district in Utah had taken the step of even banning The Bible on the basis of its supposed vulgar and pornographic content.
The Claim
A tweet by user @CalltoActivism, posted on June 2, 2023, claimed that a School District in Utah had removed The Bible "from all elementary and middle school libraries" under a new law that "permits the removal of 'pornographic' books from school libraries."
The tweet stated: "BREAKING: The Bible has been removed from all elementary and middle school libraries throughout the Davis School District in Utah after a parent utilized a new law that permits the removal of 'pornographic' books from school libraries.
"The removal of the Bible was requested due to it being 'one of the most sex-ridden books around.
"The Utah Legislature in 2022 approved a contentious bill HB374, which lawmakers have described as a way to weed out content found to be pornographic from K-12 libraries and classrooms.
"Utah Parents United, a conservative parents rights lobbied strongly for the passing of HB374.
"The parent argued that the Bible contained topics such as incest, bestiality, genital mutilation, and infanticide, making it pornographic under the new definition set forth in Utah Code Ann. § 76-10-1227.
"A GOP lawmaker expressed sadness regarding the situation."
The Facts
School book bans have often been associated with groups that describe themselves as Christian, with texts like Harry Potter and the Wizard of Oz targeted for their "ungodly" themes.
It would seem anathema to the efforts of those groups to then see, of all books, The Bible pulled from schools for fear of it being too vulgar.
However, that's precisely what happened at the Davis School District in Utah.
As covered by The Salt Lake Tribune, a challenge was made in March 2023 to remove The Bible from the district's libraries, citing passages that included sex and violence.
The complainant appeared to object on the grounds that the religious text could be defined as either pornographic material—"patently offensive in the description or depiction of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sadomasochistic abuse, or excretion"—or material "harmful to minors."
An extract of the challenge, published by the Tribune, stated that the book contained: "Incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide."
The challenge quoted Utah Law, passed in 2022, that banned books containing pornographic content and mentioned Utah Parents United, a group that has led in efforts to ban other books in the District.
The Tribune reported that The Bible complainant had called the new book review process protected under this new legislation as "bad faith" and that the review process didn't require parents to read or even see the book they were banning.
While Utah's new law has exceptions for material which, "when taken as a whole, has serious value for minors," the complainant said that The Bible had "no serious value for minors because it's pornographic by our new definition."
As was reported by multiple media outlets including, the Tribune, KSL.com, and Fox 13, although the District did not ban The Bible across all schools, it was removed from some elementary and middle schools for containing "vulgarity or violence."
According to KSL.com, Christopher Williams, Davis School District's director of communication, that while The Bible was not removed under the new law: "The [review] committee also decided to retain the book in school library circulation only at the high school level based on age appropriateness due to vulgarity or violence."
The decision has since been appealed, reported Fox 13, with an appeals committee set to rule on whether the books will be returned to all libraries.
So, although The Bible was challenged in protest against other book-banning actions, and the District did not ban the text across all its schools, it's correct that it was removed for its content in junior classes.
Newsweek left a message with a communications representative at the Davis School District for comment.
The Ruling
Needs context.
A complaint submitted to a Utah School District earlier this year, on obscenity grounds, was ruled on this week.
While the district did not outright ban The Bible from all its schools, and not under new laws governing pornographic material, the book was reportedly removed from elementary and middle schools in the district "due to vulgarity or violence". An appeal to reverse that decision has been launched.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
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