What book must be banned at schools over sexual content? The Bible, says a national group | Opinion

Here is the next book on the critics’ list for banning at school libraries due to overt sexual content: The Bible.

But this time, instead of evangelical Christians seeking to remove books from school libraries they see as dangerous to young people, a nonreligious group is making the request.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national nonprofit with 40,000 members, including 5,000 in California, has sent a letter to the Chino Valley Unified School District asking that the Bible be pulled out of school libraries due to more than 100 sexually explicit references that could be considered obscene or offensive.

Among the references cited in the letter is an especially graphic passage from the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. It uses symbolic language to describe the city of Jerusalem as a prostitute that surrenders herself to invading nations: She “lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.”

Adults can figure out the symbolism, but a seventh-grader? A young reader might take it literally.

And that is part of Freedom From Religion’s point. Removing books is not a solution to keeping children safe. Rather, involving adults in helping young people understand what they read — parents, teachers, librarians — is the best course.

But, for now, anyone who finds a book in a school library in the Southern California district that offends can request Chino Valley to review it for suitability. The Chino Valley school board approved that procedure in November.

Shortly after the policy took effect, a “local district resident ... requested that the school system remove the bible from district libraries and classrooms after the new policy was announced,” the foundation said in a news release. The group said it supported the citizen and “requested that the district either remove the bible based on the criterion of ‘sexually obscene materials’ it has established or do away with the policy altogether.

“The district cannot ban only some ‘sexually obscene’ books while allowing others,” such as the Bible. (In its news release, the foundation purposely did not capitalize the word Bible).

As outrageous as the request may be to Christians, who believe the Bible to be the sacred word of God, it is a predictable reaction to the folly of book banning. When one group bans a book, more books are subject to the tyranny of enforced morality — even the Bible.

Book banning statewide

The president of the Chino Valley school board, Sonja Shaw, is a professed evangelical Christian. She led the board earlier this year to pass a policy requiring teachers to notify parents when students show signs of being transgender or speak about it. California Attorney General Rob Bonta then sued Chino Valley to overturn that policy. A judge issued a restraining order to keep the policy from taking effect while the case is heard.

The district, located in San Bernardino County, is one of several in conservative corners of California that have pushed for parental notifications or sought to limit students’ access to books deemed off-limits by reviewers.

People packed a meeting of the Elk Grove Unified School District near Sacramento in September to denounce books in school libraries they contended had explicit content and to push for a ban.

In late September the Escondido Union School District shut down all school libraries for two weeks after one book containing sexually explicit material was found. The district superintendent said an audit of all books would be done. “As an elementary district that serves students from PK (pre-kindergarten) to 8th grade, we are committed to not introducing inappropriate material to our students,” said Dr. Luis Ibarra.

County libraries are also affected

Removing books seen as offensive to children has not been limited to school districts. Fresno County’s Board of Supervisors recently created a special panel to review books in children’s sections at county libraries after some people complained about books dealing with gay and transgender topics.

Huntington Beach took a similar approach to its city libraries. The First Amendment Coalition, the ACLU of Southern California and the Freedom to Read Foundation said in a letter to the Huntington Beach City Council that creating a review board violated the First Amendment.

If taken literally, the groups said the resolution would prohibit children from classics such as “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

In its letter, the Freedom From Religion Foundation said it bears no “hostility toward religion.”

Rather, “The district must hold religious texts to the same standards it holds all other library books,” the foundation said.

All of this shows how ridiculous book bans are when instituted.

Returning school and public libraries’ children’s sections to how they previously operated — with librarians choosing books to display, parents monitoring their children’s selections, and politics left out of it — is the best idea.

This story was originally published December 14, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "What book must be banned at schools over sexual content? The Bible, says a national group | Opinion."