Court Ends Bible Distribution in School

[The Straight Story]

Court Ends Bible Distribution in School

By JIM SALTER – 21 hours ago

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A rural school district's long-standing practice of allowing the distribution of Bibles to grade school students is unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled.

An attorney for the southeastern Missouri school district said Wednesday he will appeal the judge's injunction against the practice.

For more than three decades, the South Iron School District in Annapolis, 120 miles southwest of St. Louis in the heart of the Bible Belt, allowed representatives of Gideons International to give away Bibles in fifth-grade classrooms.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit two years ago on behalf of four sets of parents. In August, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a temporary injunction against the practice.

The district altered its policy, saying the Gideons and others were still welcome to distribute Bibles or other literature before or after school or during lunch break, but not in classrooms.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iuWxzSvp6gUjpbkFiGf9PbXyV4PQD8U2IBB01

[Ian David]

1. The Gideons COULD just give away coupons to stay at a Motel 6.

That's where I get most of my bibles.

And little bottles of shampoo.

[truebrit71]

2. I actually don't have a problem with handing out the bibles to grade school kids..

...I got one when I was a kid and it didn't fuck me up...Not sure what the problem here is..as long as they aren't prohibiting the distribution of Torahs and Korans I don't see why this is an issue...

Get the kids asking questions early...

[Atman]

3. Yikes.

Hint: You hand out bibles in Church (or Motel 6's). You hand out math and reading and history books in school.

I'm all for an education ABOUT religion. Back in the old day (the seventies), we learned all about how religion impacted our nation's development, and we learned about other religions, too. But we learned it through instructional texts, not religious dogma.

PUBLIC schools are simply no place to be promoting any religion, period. Promote Science, history, mathematics, literature (which has quite a few religious possibilities, too), but it is simply WRONG to use one penny of our tax dollars (teachers salaries, facilities costs, etc) for the promotion of religion. How handing out bibles could be construed as anything else is beyond me!

.

[truebrit71]

8. ..and how would you suggest you educate people ABOUT Christianity without the text?

...??

Are the Gideon's "ramming the Bibles down the poor unsuspecting kids throats"?

I don't think so...

Like I said, I don't have a problem with this as long as it's open to all...

[Atman]

9. It's called CHURCH.

I was educated ABOUT Christianity in public school without being handed a government-issued bible.

I was educated WITH Christianity in church, where it should be.

"As long as it's open to all" is bullshit, because it isn't and won't ever be. Go on...I dare you...ask to distribute a thousand copies of the Koran at your kid's school, see how it goes over.

I don't need to become a certified auto mechanic to know the basics of how a car engine works. The bible is not Christianity, it is merely a book.

As for the Gideons, that is a just plain silly argument. Not only aren't the Gideons cramming it down our throats, they aren't even telling us which hotel room drawer the bible is hidden in. There is nothing remotely similar in that situation, where an organization offers free bibles for commercial (not government-run) hotel chains to place in nightstands, and an official government institution operating under the United States Constitution handing out religious tomes to school children. Nothing at all.

.

[truebrit71]

10. The GOVERNMENT is issuing the Bibles? I thought it said GIDEON's ...oh well...

..I never really did READ that well to begin with...

:eyes:

[Atman]

11. De facto

The Government is allowing/sanctioning Gideons. Call it anything else you want...it's a public school, a government institution. By allowing the Gideons to distribute the bibles, they're condoning the issuance, and making a de facto endorsement. By your logic, the KKK should also be allowed in to distribute recruitment materials. I mean, as long as it's only the KKK doing it, and not the actual government, right? Don't you see how governmental permission is tantamount to "establishment" or at the very least, an implied endorsement?

Ask yourself this: if YOU went to the school board and asked for permission to hand out literature about some religious cult you're running, would you expect it to be accepted? You may take exception with my use of the term "cult," but it fits in this instance. No one stops you from distributing materials about cheer leading practice, or band camp, or art club. But those aren't the same. None of those activities are mentioned in the Constitution. Religion, and government establishment of same, are specifically addressed.

.

[SidDithers]

5. Handing out free Qur'ans in southeast Missouri...

yeah, that'd go over well.

Sid

Edit fixed punctuation

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. GOOD! Take it to public property if you must shove your religion down other people's throats.

Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists and agnostics also pay taxes that pay for public schools.

Better yet...how about keeping them in IN THE CHURCH. Keep your theocracy off my Democracy.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Wonder if there's a Muslim group who agree to pass out free Korans in the same school.

I would bet money that the school district would immediately eliminate their policy.

[kestrel91316]

7. Memo to bible-thumpers:

Pass your fairy tale books out in church or on public sidewalks. Don't use the captive audience of a public school to do it.

Jeebus H. Christ. WHAT PART OF SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE DO THESE FREAKS NOT GET?????????????