School districts nationwide are continuing to evaluate whether or not certain books are age-appropriate for children. The latest book to be banned is the Holy Bible at a school district in Utah.
The decision to ban the centuries-old book comes as parents in the district continued to grow frustrated with book challenges and bans. Looking to take action, many submitted complaints about the Bible and its contents, leaving many asking why?
Dr. Trisha Tucker, an Associate Professor of Writing in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences at the University of Southern California, joined KCBS Radio’s Liz Saint John to discuss the ban.
Tucker shared that the Bible was taken off of shelves as parents came together and complained about its contents being too graphic.
This is something that has become increasingly common among parents with K-12 students, and Tucker says the majority of book challenges fall into one of two categories.
“I think most recent challenges to books in classrooms and libraries across the country are typically being motivated by two different factors,” Tucker said. “One is the authentic concern of parents that reading a particular book will somehow harm their children.”
Tucker says that it seems many challenges to books are based on the pressure parents have to protect their children from “dangerous reading.”
However, not every book ban falls into this category.
“The other common force is a kind of political force. I think some politicians are definitely seeing book banning as a way to rile up their base,” Tucker said. “This is so interesting because it is neither of those things.”
The professor says that the reason Utah parents pushed for the book to be banned is to show the dangers of restricting literature for young people.
“By challenging the Bible, [they are] hoping to show the forces that support book banning that this is a slippery slope, that this can be a double-edged sword,” Tucker said.
To hear Tucker’s thoughts on how this could spread and whether or not books like the Book of Mormon could soon be banned, listen to her interview here:
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