Utah school district restores Bible to school libraries following outrage

A Utah school district that previously removed the Holy Bible from its middle and elementary school shelves has reversed course and will return the Christian sacred text to those schools following public outcry.

"Based on their assessment of community standards, the appeal committee determined that The Bible has significant, serious value for minors which outweighs the violent or vulgar content it contains," the Davis School District announced, according to the Associated Press.

The district in late May removed the Good Book following a complaint from a parent who objected to a state law making it easier to remove "pornographic or indecent" books from schools. The parent had argued that the book contains "[i]ncest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide."

The Bible does include most of those subjects, though largely in the context of condemning each. The "dildos" claim, in particular, appears to be a reference to the "male idols" mentioned in chapter 16 of the Book of Ezekiel, though the word itself does not appear in any conventional translation of the book.

In light of the parental complaint, however, the district had chosen to "retain the book in school library circulation only at the high school level based on age appropriateness due to vulgarity or violence."

Subsequently, more than 70 people filed appeals challenging the ban.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.