“Vulgarity and violence.” That’s why the Davis School District in Utah has removed the Bible from several elementary schools after a complaint about its content. In the complaint, the parent writes that “the book has no value for minors because it is pornographic”. The complaint says the Bible contains themes such as “incest, masturbation, prostitution (…) and infanticide”, according to the local newspaper Salt Lake Tribune. A mother reads the Bible with her six-year-old son in Chicago. Photo: Shafkat Anowar / AP It is the Republican Party that rules in Utah. Last year they passed a law banning “pornographic and indecent” books from public schools. The school district says they do not agree that the Bible is pornographic, but that it can be vulgar and violent. The decision has been appealed, says a spokesperson to the Los Angeles Times. – Part of the culture war Most of the books that have been banned in Utah are about sexual orientation and gender, writes the BBC. Among them are Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer. A student reads The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison which is banned in schools in both Texas and Utah. The book is about a black girl and her upbringing. Photo: CALLAGHAN O’HARE / Reuters The law banning obscene books is part of a larger trend among US conservatives. Several states ban books and curricula that deal with racism, gender and sexual orientation. It is part of America’s culture war, says Eirik Løkke, an expert on the United States and adviser at Civita. He calls it “spider game”. – The debate about “book bans” and which books should be available to children has existed for a long time in the USA. But it has escalated in recent years, and is now dominated by conservatives, says Løkke. Eirik Løkke, advisor at Civita. Photo: Tobias Prosch Simonsen He says many conservatives feel they have lost cultural hegemony in important institutions such as schools and libraries. Now they are trying to “force through their will in the form of political submission”, says Løkke. – I think this can also be seen as an authoritarian reaction to the woke and cancellation culture that parts of the left are agitating for. Woke is often used for a very critical attitude towards racism and discrimination. Several states ban books The conservative states of Texas, Florida, Missouri and South Carolina have also introduced laws to remove books. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has banned teaching about sexual minorities. DeSantis calls Florida “where the woke come to die.” Photo: John Raoux / AP DeSantis, who is also running as the Republican presidential candidate, says he wants the same for the entire United States. Conservative Arkansas recently passed a law that could make librarians and bookstores criminally liable if they make obscene books available to children under 18. Also, some democratically-governed states have banned books that are seen as racist. Defending the law In 2022, the American Library Association registered a record number of attempts to ban books. Over 2,500 titles were attempted to be banned. The vast majority are about sexual orientation or racism, according to ALA. The politician who spearheaded the law in Utah, Ken Ivory, initially thought the complaint against the Bible was an attempt to make fun. Ken Ivory, the man behind the bill in Utah. Photo: Ken Ivory’s Facebook page Now he writes that he supports the decision. – Traditionally in the US, the Bible has been learned and best understood in the home, and in the heart, as a family, writes Ivory on Facebook. He believes the decision is correct and asks all school districts to go through all books to see if “obscene and indecent material” is age appropriate.
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Kindergartens ban the Bible – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
