Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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1. 

   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

2. 

   The defence of a Christian view never seems to be settled by debate: exchange of facts, reference to historical events.…

3. 

   But …… Rwanda is a safe place: Parliament says so.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/8/contentsSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 S 2 Safety…

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   Religion can survive only on the most unquestionable assumptions. The statements made on Sundays on the BBC as if they…

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   Yes, if I’ve got anything remotely like a phobia, as an ex-fundy, its bibles, churches, tracts etc. I like to…

UTAH’S law HB0374—sponsored by Republican State Representative Kenneth Robert Ivory, above, and passed last year—prohibits materials that include “pornographic or indecent” content.

One parent much to Ivory’s chagrin, seized on the law last December to demand the removal of the Bible from classrooms, saying, “get this PORN out of our schools!”

Calling the Bible the “one of the most sex-ridden books around, the parent said it contained:

Incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape and even infanticide.

Ivory (R), according to The New York Post, called the parent’s Bible ban demand:

A backhanded slap to parents that are simply trying to keep a healthy learning environment for all students in the schools.

‘Hate group’ pushed for the law

Referencing the non-profit group Utah Parents United, which has routinely advocated for the removal of certain books—including ones with LGBT+ content—on various social media platforms, the parent called the outfit a “white supremacist hate group.”

The image used for the group’s official website is a classic example of unconscious self-parody:

Image via Utah Parents United

The site directs readers to its Facebook page, “LaVerna in the Library”, but that page has now been taken down.

However, the group appears to have spawned a number of “Mary in the Library” Facebook pages that use the same image. These could well be spoofs.

For example, “Mary in the Library Indiana“ says:

Mary has a dirty little secret. She collects naughty children’s books! Do you have a recommendation for Mary’s book collection? Please send her a photo of a naughty children’s book including a photo of at least one harmful passage!

Name the library or school district where the book was found. These could be books pornographic in nature, obscene, or harmful to children—or simply inappropriate for the age in which it was intended.

Mary’s goal is simple. She doesn’t believe in banning books or burning books for private use. But, she loves to collect naughty books for her collection to keep them out of public children’s libraries where little eyes could accidentally find them when Mommy isn’t looking.

Mary plans to send her dirty little collection to Indiana Lawmakers as evidence of the need to hold school libraries to a higher standard of decency and excellence. Use this link to search your local school library.

Image via Facebook

Nichole Mason, above, President of Utah Parents United, told The Post.

The law is meant to protect children from unrestricted access to explicit sexual content in k-12 schools. None of the passages from the Bible meet the Bright Line Standard for pornographic content.

The “bright line” rule is another term for material that meets the requirements for removal, such as being “indecent” and “pornographic.”

The Utah law prohibits the description or depiction of illicit sex that includes “human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal”; “acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse or sodomy”; and “fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals or pubic region” as well as “human buttock or female breast.”

However, in the religious text writes The Post’s Brook Kato, there are a few instances where sex is not only mentioned but described.

A man named Lot has drunken sex with his daughters (Genesis 19:30-32); a woman is condemned for her “nakedness” and “whoring” (Ezekiel 23:18-21); God smites the city of Sodom after a group of men seemingly requests to have sex with other men (Genesis 19); and there were multiple references in the Song of Songs about breasts (among them, 1:13, 4:5, 4:16, 5:4, 7:7-8).

The anonymous parent submitted an eight-page list of their own for review, which cited and quoted specific biblical passages that described, alluded to or depicted scenarios that could be considered “offensive.”

Book bans rampant across the US

The parent’s letter comes as more book bans are introduced throughout the nation—to the dismay of some bibliophiles who believe banning books does more harm than good.

In November 2022, the Keller Independent School District in Texas banned literature on gender fluidity.

Just a few months prior, the same district pulled an illustrated version of Anne Frank’s diary, along with 40 other titles, from its shelves—including the Bible.

Just last year, the American Library Association (ALA) reported a surge in book banning, reporting 681 attempted bans or restrictions of libraries texts between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 of 2022.

A staggering 1,651 different titles were targeted in that 12-month period alone, the organisation noted.

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