Gideons in Schools 5
U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Perry also scolded school officials for continuing the program after warnings that it violated the Constitution.
South Iron Elementary in Annapolis, a town of 300 in southeastern Missouri, has quietly allowed Gideons International to hand out Bibles to fifth-graders for years. After concerns were raised last year, the then-superintendent consulted with the district’s attorneys and insurance company and recommended that the handouts stop, but the school board voted to continue them.
Acting on behalf of two sets of parents from the district, the
American Civil Liberties Union sued in February in federal court in St. Louis.“The defendants were repeatedly told that their actions violated the Constitution, but they chose not to heed those cautions,” Perry wrote in the preliminary injunction issued Wednesday.
A final ruling is not expected for months.
When I was in public elementary school, I received several New Testaments from the Gideons, who visited the school regularly. I probably still have them somewhere.
It was no big deal.
But everyone in the two counties of the Eastern Shore of Virginia was Christian, at least nominally.
There were rumors that there was a Jewish family in the nearest middle-sized city, about 80 miles away.
It was no big deal.
There were even a couple of Catholic churches in the two counties.
It was no big deal.
I didn’t meet any Catholics until high school.
It was no big deal.
It was also agents of the state–the teachers and other authority figures in the school–giving approval to one religion over any another.
It was no big deal, because there were no dissenters, no one to feel left out, no one to feel belittled, no one to feel pressured to pretend he or she was something other than what he or she was.
The Gideons perform a great ministry.
They do not belong in public schools, promoting Christianity under the authority of the State.
September 8, 2006 at 7:07 pm
I have suddenly changed my long-standing dream of what I would do if I had Bill Gates’ money. I think I’d give kids in schools free reading material, and I would drive the courts nuts trying to decide what to allow and what not. This month it would be the Koran, next month a Max Lucado book, or maybe one of Frank Peretti’s novels. In fact, I’d make it a multimedia effort: I’d pass out free Veggie Tales DVDs and see what the ACLU does with that. Better yet, Switchfoot CDs! Do you really want to live in a country that considers lyrics to songs like Something More (lyrics at http://tinyurl.com/gk5c6) to be given away to poor children?
They’d all hate me…the judges… the ACLU… I’d be in contempt up to my eyeballs.
September 8, 2006 at 7:09 pm
Pardon my excitement (ah, to dream,) and insert the word “unfit” before the phrase “to be given away to poor children.”
September 9, 2006 at 7:45 am
Actually, I think that is a great idea. For you would not be promoting anything, other than thought and learning.
————-
Don’t get met started about contemporary “popular” music. Or television. Or radio. Or movies.
I’ve waited a long time to attain the status of a dirty old man. But I prefer not to parade my dirty old man-ness on the sidewalk.
September 9, 2006 at 8:55 am
But everything I described has religious content.
September 12, 2006 at 12:56 am
Dirty Old Man. All my friends know it. I wish there had been copies of the Koran in my HS Library (I looked), though there were a couple copies of Mein Kampf.