A Florida man has launched a tongue-in-cheek petition to ban the Bible from school districts in the state as the religious tome contains age-inappropriate content for children. Chaz Stevens sent petitions to public school superintendents asking them to “immediately remove the Bible from the classroom, library, and any instructional material,” NPR reports. Stevens, an atheist, also seeks the “banishment of any book that references the Bible.
- This is a direct response to a bill introduced by Governor Ron DeSantis. The bill, signed into law last month, allows parents to object to educational materials. It was conceived after parents began protesting books being taught in Florida schools that they deemed “sexually explicit.” Many of the books dealt with LGBTQ themes and storylines, so it doesn’t take rocket science to tell what’s going on here. More recently, the state banned 54 math textbooks for allegedly trying to “indoctrinate” students on topics like critical race theory.
- Many are disappointed in the legislation. Florida’s Democratic leader Lauren Book was upset that the state had aligned itself with “places like Russia and China, modern-day examples of what happens when free thought and free speech are tightly restricted in all levels of society, including in school.”
- Stevens does make some good points. While he’s being a bit facetious and realizes that the likelihood of the Bible being banned is pretty slim to none, what Stevens has to say about the Bible is pretty valid. He questioned whether the Bible could be age-appropriate to school children, given its “casual” references to topics like adultery, fornication, murder, and other more mature topics. “Do we really want to teach our youth about drunken orgies?” he asks.
- The Bible is far from angelic. Stevens went on to call out the Bible for telling stories about cannibalism, infanticide, rape, and other extremely offensive and upsetting themes. “In the end, if Jimmy and Susie are curious about any of the above, they can do what everyone else does – get a room at the Motel Six and grab the Gideons,” he jokingly adds.
- Stevens launched the petition to point out the hypocrisy of the bill. “If you want to teach morality and ethics, do you really want to turn to a book that wants you to dash babies against rocks?” Stevens explained to NPR, referencing Psalm 137:9.
So far, no school districts have responded to Stevens’s petition.
