Where Things Stand: Activist Petitions To Get Bible Banned From Florida Schools In DeSantis-Trolling Move

The activist is Chaz Stevens; an atheist, self-proclaimed “stunt activist” and a seemingly tongue-in-cheek ordained minister in the states of California, Florida and “Jezero County, Mars.” In the past week, Stevens has reportedly sent letters requesting a Bible-ban to school officials in at least eight Florida school districts, including the large Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) and Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) systems, as the Miami New Times was first to report. Stevens argued in the letters that the Christian Bible includes topics that violate “age appropriateness” laws recently passed and signed by DeSantis, whose top state education officials have made quick work of acting upon, banning almost 200 different textbooks from Florida’s public K-12 curriculum.

Earlier this year, the Florida Republican-controlled legislature passed House Bill 1467, which DeSantis signed into law. The measure has been cast by Florida Republicans as an effort to give parents more say in their child’s public school curriculum. But in reality, it serves a pellucid bad faith purpose — giving cover to state Republicans who are clearly helping the national party pull anti-woke ammunition out of thin air via manufactured culture wars to distract from the fact that Republicans have no clear agenda. It also feeds into theories about the party’s broader faux outrage-stoking aim, legitimizing right-wing media propaganda through unnecessary state laws to rile up the most far-right members of the base and encourage voter turnout ahead of the Midterms.

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While atheist activists like Stevens have a history of pulling similar anti-religion stunts, the complaint he filed with several Florida public schools points to this broader disillusionment and seemingly aims to poke more holes in the non-serious nature of the Republican Party’s war on America’s public education system. In his letters, Stevens not only noted that there’s content in the Christian bible that is inappropriate for some school-aged children — like mentions of “drunken orgies,” as he put it — but also points out there are sections of Christian scripture that dig into topics like “bestiality and rape.”

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“With the constant babbling concerns about teaching Critical Race Theory, should we not
take stock of the Bible’s position on slavery? I am concerned our young white students
will read such passages and wake up to civilization’s sordid past,”

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