A school district in Salt Lake City, Utah enacted the ban under a state law introduced at the behest of Christian legislators and used to ban a number of books with LGBT+ and anti-racist content, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

According to PEN America, a “full-fledged social and political movement” has emerged in the US in the past two years with the aim of restricting school pupils’ access to books about LGBT+ people and the history of racism in the US.

At least some of the complaints about the Bible were submitted by parents opposed to the book ban movement.

The Davis school district ruled that the Christian text should no longer be available in elementary and middle schools as a result of its content, but could remain in high schools.

Republican legislator Ken Ivory initially criticised the complaints about the Bible as “making a mockery” of the law he introduced, but now says he agrees it is “best taught… in the home”.

The school district will soon rule on similar complaints made about the Book of Mormon, the guiding text of the LDS Church which is the majority religion in Utah.