SALT LAKE CITY—Controversy has sprung up in Utah after the Davis County School District Review Committee decided on May 22 to remove the Bible from elementary and middle school libraries.
The committee deemed the Bible not suitable for young children because of its “vulgarity and violence.” Their decision came after the bill HB374, known as the “sensitive material” law, was passed in 2021 and implemented in 2022. The purpose of the bill was “to remove pornographic, inappropriate material from K–12 libraries and classrooms.”
On June 7, over 100 people held a rally at the Utah State Capitol to protest the committee’s decision. People at the rally and elsewhere expressed disapproval of the banning of the Bible.
Brad Probst, a former candidate for the Utah State Senate and a resident of Salt Lake City, told The Epoch Times, “This country is in big trouble when a school district would ban the Bible but allow all sorts of other perverse books into the classroom that are so detrimental to our young people.”
“The Bible is far from the category of obscene. While the Bible does have some stories telling of inappropriate things happening, they are a warning and lesson for us not to do such things, whereas true indecent, obscene, or pornographic materials are promoting those things,” Davis said. “I am disappointed by attempts to censor the Bible by people, especially in the state of Utah, which was founded on the principles of religious liberty.”
Gayle Ruzicka, rally organizer and state president of the long-standing conservative organization Utah Eagle Forum, said that the protesters consisted of parents, grandparents, children, religious leaders, advocates, and elected representatives, many carrying their Bibles and some holding signs that read “God Cannot Be Canceled,” “The Bible Is the Original Textbook,” and “Remove Porn, Not the Holy Bible.”
Ruzicka told The Epoch Times about some of the speakers at the rally, including Karlee Vincent of Davis County, who stood with her three young children, all holding their Bibles.
Vincent said that school districts should ban certain books containing controversial materials, but not religious texts like the Bible.
She said: “We love the Bible. We love God. And we need God in our nation.”
Christina Boggess, a Utah State School Board member, spoke at the rally and called the book a “seminal text of the American founding.”
Nichole Mason, president of Utah Parents United, also spoke at the rally and questioned “how the Bible could be removed when other books with graphic images aren’t.”
Ruzicka told the audience, “By removing the Bible from our educational institutions, we risk severing the foundation of our society, legal system, moral compass, and commitment to self-governance.”
Utah Rep. Ken Ivory, the sponsor of HB374, told The Epoch Times that he wanted “Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to add this issue to the agenda for a special legislative session this summer so lawmakers can tweak the law and resolve this issue.”
“It’s up to the Legislature to close that gap so that this [banning of the Bible] doesn’t happen in any other district,” Ivory said.
Ruzicka said it is only when the governor calls for a special legislative session that legislators can actually vote to change an already passed bill.
