Ban the Bible? Someone sent the book to Brevard schools for review
Books including scenes depicting rape, incest, drug use and graphic violence have been the topic of heated debate for more than a year at Brevard Public Schools board meetings.
Now, a different type of text has been brought into the debate: The Bible.
The Good Book is not often brought up at school board meetings, save for the occasional mention of suggestive or violent passages. However, various translations of the text were included on a list of 296 books submitted by an anonymous person on May 12. The list was sent to Stephanie Soliven, assistant superintendent for Secondary Leading and Learning at BPS, with a message saying every book on the list violated state statutes.
Though it's the first time the Bible has been contested at Brevard Public Schools, it was challenged in Leon County earlier this year, as well as Escambia County in 2022. Both districts quickly determined the religious text did not break state statute, and the Bible remained on shelves.
Repeated attempts to challenge books across Florida has drawn criticism from free speech activists, with PEN America and publisher Penguin Random House — joined by parents and authors — filing a suit in federal court Wednesday alleging book bans in Escambia County public schools are unconstitutional.
Book bans have risen dramatically over the past few years, with the lawsuit saying Florida has become an epicenter for the trend.
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In Brevard, the list of 296 challenged books was comprised mostly of various translations of the Bible, stories about the Bible and other religious-themed texts within BPS libraries, though it also included historical titles such as “Laura Ingalls Wilder Country,” “Johann Gutenberg and the Printing Press” and even the joke book, “All-Time Awesome Collection of Good Clean Jokes for Kids.”
Is anyone worried about the Bible?
The anonymous person who submitted the list of books said the Bible and other books all broke state statutes, which require Florida school districts to purchase age-appropriate books free of pornography and say that governmental entities cannot infringe on a parent's right to direct the religious beliefs of a child.
Despite the accusation, school board member Katye Campbell said no one she's spoken to sees the Bible as an issue.
"The truth is, conservative people need to stop saying extreme things about liberal people, and liberal people need to stop saying extreme things about conservative people," she said.
"I haven't talked to anybody who thinks it's OK to have graphic sex scenes in books for children, and I haven't talked to anybody who thinks it's really horrible to have a story about David and Goliath on the shelf in their elementary school library. I just don't think that's reasonable."
She sees the list of the Bible and other religious-themed books as an attempt at getting even with those who have challenged books in the past for passages they felt were obscene.
"It's really hard to not imagine that it's just retaliatory," she said. "(It's like) 'I didn't get my way with how the book process went, and so I'm going to submit and logjam the process with almost 300 books that in reality no one has ever said anything about.'"
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Campbell questioned whether the person submitting the list had read the titles they submitted or if they'd simply pulled them from Google. She noted that some of the book titles contain the word "bible" but have nothing to do with religion, such as a recipe book called "The Cupcake Bible" or "The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible."
Michelle Beavers is the former chair of Brevard's Moms for Liberty library committee and a member of BPS' book review committee. She said she thinks the person who submitted the list doesn't understand the review process, noting it requires documentation of objectionable material in each title.
"They're going to have to come up with what's wrong with the story of Noah's Ark and document how that's either harmful, sexually explicit or inappropriate for minors," she said. "If they want to spend the time trying to figure out how they can defame Noah's Ark into being something that's not appropriate for children, let them knock themselves out."
Beavers, who describes herself as "not religious," said she's been criticized for submitting a list challenging 42 books in 2022. A list of nearly 300 books will cost the district far more time and money, she said.
"You just cost our school (district) lots of money," she said. "I did mine over a series of months as we found books slowly and put them out as we found them, like 10 at a time ... so to sit there and tell me how horrible I am because I have overburdened our school system and cost man hours and then to do (about seven) times what I did, it's just hypocritical."
Paul Roub is another book review committee member whose personal philosophy is books are "innocent until proven guilty" — in other words, he generally assumes they shouldn't be removed from the shelves until proven otherwise. He wasn't sure what the thought process was behind submitting so many books. It might be to make a point, he said.
"I get the point that (I assume) they're trying to make, and I do appreciate that this points out the importance of reviewing the whole book, not just excerpts," he said in a text to FLORIDA TODAY.
Are Bibles in Florida schools?
The Bible has been challenged many times before. EdWeek reported that in 2022, the Bible was temporarily pulled from shelves in Escambia County, Wentzville School District in Missouri and Keller Independent School District in Texas for review. It was later put back on shelves.
There have been other reports of the Bible being challenged in 2023, including at the Gardner Edgerton School District in Kansas and the Davis School District in Utah.
Despite the rise in book challenges across the United States, it’s not a new trend. In 2016, the website Evangelical Focus reported that the American Library Association had revealed that the Bible was among the most challenged books in the United States, with people often calling it into question on the grounds of sexual content, violence and potential legal issues regarding the separation of church and state.
Separation of church and state: Is this an issue?
Does the separation of church and state laid out by the U.S. Constitution prohibit libraries from carrying the Bible? No, not according to the American Library Association.
Libraries can have the Bible and other religious texts in their collections, but the selection of resources should be inclusive of many “persuasions and traditions,” the ALA said on their website, adding that the labels used within the library should be “viewpoint-neutral directional aids and not pejorative.”
There are some practices that would violate the First Amendment and the Library Bill of Rights, according to ALA, such as adding a religious symbol like a cross to label Christian fiction. Labeling non faith-specific labels like “inspirational fiction” and including materials without religious-based content under that label may help libraries avoid issues.
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Ultimately, library users have the right to access “any and all constitutionally protected speech, including religious speech,” according to ALA. They added that the Bible and other religious texts are not more or less protected than other types of speech.
What happens next in Brevard?
The list of 296 books was submitted as an informal challenge. When that's the case, schools impacted — or schools that have copies of these books — will be notified by Soliven to commence the informal review of the materials, according to board policy.
The results of the review will be shared with the petitioner within 30 days excluding summer, winter break or spring break, and the results will be posted on the district library/media website.
If the requestor isn't satisfied with the results, he or she will be provided with the Request for Reconsideration of Materials Form to file a written request for reconsideration, with Soliven or a designee also providing an explanation of the process that will be followed, according to policy. The request for reconsideration will be filed with Soliven or the designee.
What books have been challenged in Brevard schools before?
Though the book review committee process was halted following the election of the new school board in the fall 2022 semester, with plans to implement a new book review policy, the committee reviewed two books prior to being halted. Those books were "House of Earth and Blood" and "Empire of Storms," both by fantasy author Sarah J. Mass. The committee voted to keep the first title in school libraries at the media specialists' desks, with students younger than 18 required to get parental permission to check the book out. The second book is available to students in 10th grade and up, though the eBook is available to those in ninth grade and up.
According to the district's website, the following books reached the formal review process after going through the informal review process and were removed from circulation pending the outcome of a review by the book review committee.
"Damsel" by Elana Arnold
"Forever" by Judy Blume
"Not My Problem" by Ciara Smyth
"Red Hood" by Elana Arnold
"This One Summer" by Mariko Tamaki
"Infandous" by Elana Arnold
"The Haters" by Jesse Andrews
"The Nowhere Girls" by Amy Reed
"A Court of Silver Flames" by Sarah J. Maas
"Breathless" by Jennifer Niven
"Last Night at the Telegraph Club" by Malinda Lo
"The Infinite Moment of Us" by Lauren Myracle
"A Court of Thorns and Roses" by Sarah J. Maas
"A Court of Wings and Ruin" by Sarah J. Maas
"A Court of Frost and Starlight" by Sarah J. Maas
"A Court of Misty and Fury" by Sarah J. Maas
"Tilt" by Ellen Hopkins
"Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins
"Sold" by Patricia McCormick
"Milk and Honey" by Rupi Kaur
"Home Body" by Rupi Kaur
"The Sun and Her Flowers" by Rupi Kaur
"Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Perez
"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
"Jesus Land" by Julia Scheeres
"Beautiful" by Amy Reed
"People Kill People" by Ellen Hopkins
"Living Dead Girls" by Elizabeth Scott
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
"All Boys Aren’t Blue" by George Johnson
"Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
"House of Sky and Breath" by Sarah Maas
Though Beavers feels the new, extensive list is a waste of time and resources, she added that if reviewing the Bible and religious-themed texts is what it takes to remove sexually explicit materials from schools, she's for it.
"My personal opinion is, if the cost of getting these (sexually explicit or inappropriate) books off the shelves is we remove the Bible, Jesus, God and any references to those, if that's the cost, I'm for it," she said. "Pay it. We're done. I'd be happy to."
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Bible ban proposed at Florida school district
