The Kings James version of the Bible will be removed from elementary and middle schools (though not High Schools) in Davis County after a parent complained of “incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide" in the Good Book.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

In the beginning, a parent filed a challenge to have the Bible removed from Davis School District libraries, citing passages describing sex and violence.

The district said let there be a review of the book. And it was so.

Now, the committee appointed by the district to review the complaint and decide if the Bible is appropriate for students to access has made its determination: High schools in Davis will keep the religious text on the shelf.

But it will be removed from elementary and middle schools for containing “vulgarity or violence.”

That decision on the book challenge — which gained national attention when it was first reported on in March — will take effect immediately, said Davis School District spokesperson Christopher Williams in an email to The Salt Lake Tribune this week.

So why is that happening?

The code cited is the Utah law passed in 2022 to ban any books containing “pornographic or indecent” content from Utah schools, both in libraries and in the classroom.

Based on the new code, something is indecent if it includes explicit sexual arousal, stimulation, masturbation, intercourse, sodomy or fondling. According to state attorneys, material doesn’t have to be “taken as a whole” in those situations or left on the shelf during a review. If there is a scene involving any of those acts, it should be immediately removed.

Many on the Interwebs found levity in this foolishness. Unintended consequences and all that.