A Utah school district is reviewing the Book of Mormon’s suitability for young eyes after removing the King James Bible from library shelves over allegations the scriptures contain “vulgarity and violence.”
School officials in Davis County, Utah, are seeking to establish whether the foundational text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints should be available at elementary and junior high school libraries, The Salt Lake Tribune and KSL-TV reported.
The censorship consideration comes just days after a review committee that evaluates school texts decided to remove the Bible from junior libraries while retaining it in high school libraries, as Breitbart News reported.
Both reviews stem from a 2022 law that allows parents to submit requests to have books containing “indecent material” removed from school libraries. The law was originally seen as targeting literature related to the LGBTQ+ community but has since been broadened to include anything a parent might deem offensive.
As of March, the law was used 81 times with Davis County having removed 33 books for material found to contain sex, vulgarity, and violence.
A book removal request can be made on the district’s website, however, the complainant must set out their reasoning.
For example, the request for the Bible’s review argued it included 49 pages of scripture that could be deemed inappropriate under the law, including instances of murder, sex, and incest.
The review of the Book of Mormon was sought because it, as with many sacred texts across major religions, contains depictions of extreme violence that could cause alarm in sensitive readers.
File/An 1830 first edition of the Mormon scripture “Book of Mormon” is displayed at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Church History Library, part of the “Foundation of Faith” exhibit on September 8, 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (George Frey/Getty Images)
Utah has a millions-strong Latter Day Saints population and the school district insisted its review would be impartial, UPI reports.
“The district will treat this request just like any other request, and will follow the policy as outlined in the 41-202 School Library Media Centers policy,” Davis School District director of communication Christopher Williams told KSL.
The decision to remove the Bible, meanwhile, was appealed this week, which will prompt a second review from the committee.
The Davis School District has 73,993 students enrolled in 92 district schools serving students from pre-K to 12th grade, according to its website. The school district is located in Farmington, around 17 miles from Salt Lake City.