Florida school board votes unanimously to keep Bible on library shelves
Vote comes after campaign to remove Scripture for 'obscene' passages
Officials in one Florida school district have voted unanimously to keep the Holy Bible in its libraries despite a challenge from an atheist activist who claimed Scripture is “obscene” and “harmful.”
The Superintendent’s Review Committee of the Broward County Public Schools voted Dec. 6 to allow the Bible to stay on library shelves following an “occasionally heated meeting,” the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
The nine-member committee was tasked only with the questions of whether the Holy book is appropriate for classroom use, not whether it should be available in school libraries, according to The Sentinel.
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The challenge to the Bible’s fitness for school shelves came in April 2022 after Chaz Stevens of Deerfield Beach, Florida, wrote letters to superintendents in Broward County, Miami-Dade County Public Schools and other school districts throughout the state asking them to “immediately remove the Bible from the classroom, library, and any instructional material” in their schools.
Steven, an activist who also sells non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of sex toys featuring the names of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former President Donald Trump and other political figures on his website, is no stranger to courting controversy — and media coverage — after asking the Florida State Senate in 2014 for permission to open a Senate session "with a prayer to my god Satan."
Steven’s campaign followed DeSantis’ signing of House Bill 1467, which allows Florida residents to request the removal of books they find objectionable from school classrooms and libraries. Critics have alleged that the measure stifles the free speech rights of students and faculty on LGBT issues and other matters.
Citing HB 1467, Stevens’ initial letter called not only for the removal of the Bible and the “banishment of any book that references” it but also calls on education officials to burn what Stevens described as “that giant stack of fiction in a pyre worthy of a Viking sendoff.”
Stevens presented Jose Dotres, the superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, with his objections, including references to verses from the Old and New Testaments. He sent a similar letter to Kenneth Savage, the interim superintendent of Lee County Public Schools, indicating that his effort to ban the Bible from public schools extends to the entire state.
In his letter to Dotres, Stevens misquotes Genesis 2:18 as “It is not good enough for man to be alone, therefore, encourage one another and build each other up!” The verse actually says: "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.'"
Stevens’ failed campaign to have the Bible removed was echoed earlier this year by another parent in Utah who claimed the words of Jesus in the Bible are “pornographic.”
A request filed on Dec. 11, 2022, with the Davis School District, located just north of Salt Lake City, called the Bible "one of the most sex-ridden books around" and, therefore, violates Utah state code.
According to a copy of the request obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, which has since been taken down, the parent — whose name, address and contact information were not disclosed for privacy concerns — specifically asked for the Bible to be removed at Davis High School in Kaysville, about 15 miles north of Salt Lake City.
The parent also included with the request a list of more than 130 passages from Scripture that the parent described as offensive.
After initially banning the Bible from middle and elementary schools in May, Davis school officials announced they would return Christianity’s most sacred book to school library shelves the following month.
