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FARMINGTON — The Book of Mormon was challenged in the Davis School District last week, with the challenger calling the seminal text for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "very violent."
According to a copy of the challenge obtained by KSL NewsRadio Friday, the book is being challenged at Kaysville Junior High.
The petitioner, whose name was redacted, said he or she doesn't want children reading about "murder, rape and torture, or learning that it is OK to murder somebody if God tells them to (Nephi)."
"Nephi cuts off Laban's head and his brothers are constantly beating him up. There are also the war chapters of Alma that describe dead bodies littered across the land. The Nephites and Lamanites torture and murder each other," the person wrote in his or her request for the book to be removed. "There is also burning people at the stake (Abinadi); and forced cannibalism (Moroni 9). There is also sex and visiting prostitutes. While this is framed as a sin, it is still mentioned. Further, the Lamanite women are kidnapped and raped in Mosiah 20."
The religious text also contains "a record of God's dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains the fullness of the everlasting gospel," according to the title page in the Book of Mormon.
"The district will treat this request just like any other request, and will follow the policy as outlined in the 4I-202 School Library Media Centers policy," Chris Williams, Davis School District spokesman, said last week.
He added that, specifically, the review committee will assess "all elements of the definitions of pornographic or indecent materials as defined in Utah Code Ann. §53G-10-103," along with "whether the material is age appropriate due to vulgarity or violence," when deciding whether the Book of Mormon contains sensitive material.
Review committees for the district are made up of an odd number of people, including: a facilitator selected by the district's teaching and learning director; at least one administrator working at a district department or school; a licensed teacher who is teaching English language arts or another relevant subject at a district school; a librarian who works at a district school; and a minimum of four parents with students enrolled at a district school, according to district policy.
Last week, the Bible was removed from all elementary and middle school libraries in Davis School District "due to vulgarity and violence," the district reported.
Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan — who sponsored the contentious HB374 during the 2020 Legislative Session — spoke to supporters of faith and conservative groups during a protest at the Capitol on Wednesday, disputing the claim that, as a whole, the Bible lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value, as defined in Utah state code addressing "harmful materials."
Ivory called the district's decision a "failure of procedure."
"This expectation that districts would follow the spirit of the law — we're seeing that they don't — it's up to the Legislature to close that gap that it doesn't happen in any other district," Ivory said.
Williams said last week that there haven't been any other challenges made regarding other religious texts.
