A school district in Texas temporarily banned the Bible under the state’s new House Bill 900 law, which requires book vendors to recall sexually explicit books from school libraries, the Guardian reports.
The Bible was banned in the Canyon Independent School District in the Texas panhandle. According to the Texan, the district’s superintendent, Darryl Flusche, wrote in an email to unknown recipients, that the “standard for library content prohibits books that have one instance of sexual content.…Therefore, HB900 doesn’t allow numerous books, including the full text of the Bible, to be available in the school library.”
Flusche added that “if any student would like to have a Bible, we have strong connections with local churches that are happy to donate a Bible upon request.”
The Bible’s removal was met with outrage by some parents of Canyon ISD students, including Regina Kiehne, who said at a school board meeting, “It seems absurd to me that the Good Book was thrown out with the bad books.…It is the bestselling book of all time; it is historically accurate, scientifically sound, and most importantly, life-changing.”
The district reversed itself later, saying in a statement, “We reevaluated the guidelines and are pleased to have the Bible available in each of our Canyon ISD libraries.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
