A Kansas school district won't remove the Bible despite a challenge over its mature themes

A Derby school district committee decided not to remove the Bible from libraries or classrooms despite a challenge that the book contains mature themes.

Cheryl Bannon, a former member of the Derby City Council, asked the district’s library committee to review the Bible after the group decided to remove an award-winning young-adult novel from its list of approved classroom materials.

Bannon said she filed her challenge to illustrate the consequences of censorship. The Bible is used as a textbook in Derby High School’s “Bible as Literature” course, a one-semester elective.

Pointing to verses about murder, masturbation, genocide, incest and other mature topics, Bannon argued that the religious text is just as provocative as some contemporary works.

Derby’s library committee removed Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” from classrooms and middle-school libraries in February, citing profanity, sexual themes and slurs related to mental disabilities.