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Well, in this day and age I have to side with the judge. If they allowed Bibles, next they’d have to allow Qurans to be distributed to the children.
I don’t like the ACLU but shouldn’t those kids have a Bible given to them already by their parents from the time they were first able to read it?
Ping
I’m assuming this is a public school. If so I’m surprised this practice lasted as long as it did. It just opens the door to every group under the sun insisting they have a right to pass out propaganda to children...the Koran, the book of Scientology, the Gorean Global Warming Bible... where would it end? Better to allow churches to distribute Bibles OUTSIDE of the public classrooms.
Let the good folks distribute the Bibles either off school property or else door to door. I agree that id Bibles could be distributed then so could the Koran.
Public Ed ping
This is an easy fix... call them condoms.
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Christ did have something to say about those who sit in the seat of Moses. The first human to hand out the LAW.
So what? Obviously, this judge has never bothered to read Amendment I. Again,
No act of Congress here.
of course they did, it interferes with teaching kids how to be homo’s
Well, perhaps they should try to hand out Korans, then when that is allowed, sue for violation of 14th Amendment, and separation of church and state rules.
Watch the movie God’s Outlaw. William Tyndale printed and distributed Bibles in the English language in the 16th century and was burned at the stake.
IMO, if the Gideon’s are OK, then the Quran can’t be far behind. Religious training belongs at home, not at school. And that applies to ANY religion.
It’s OK for the school to include educational units on the various religions of the world throughout history. That has an educational purpose, to the degree that religion has shaped societies, etc.
But, blatant attempts to sway and indoctrinate? Nope...
The Gideons have done this forever. As a Gideon, the practice of distributing Pocket New Testaments which include Psalms and Proverbs in 5th grade classroms has gone on for many decades. One thing that is not included in the red school distribution NT’s which is in some of the other Gideon Pocket NT’s is the plan of salvation. That was excluded to help fend off charges of prosletyzing.
In certain schools where classroom distributions are not allowed sidewalk distributions are arranged where not only 5th graders but others as well are offered NT’s as the kids leave or enter school. I’ve talked to many who still have those NT’s after 30 or 40 years. Many had never read a Bible before and this little NT generated an interest which ultimatley resulted in Salvation.
The Gideons also distribute these in overseas classrooms which are much more receptive than American classrooms. This includes throughout South America, Africa, parts of Asia, Eastern Europe including Russia. Over 80% of the distributions take place outside the US where the NT’s often become a textbook used in the classroom (imagine that in the US). THey often want English NT’s instead of their native tongue as it’s used as an English Primer.
The Gideons have distributed well over 1 billion bibles worldwide and have had a dramatic impact on the spread of the Gospel.
Sure is a far cry from the great days of our country where school opened with Bible reading and prayer every day.
I lived in St. Louis during my 4-7th grade years and remember the Gideons coming and distributing the New Testament pocket books. (We also had a moment of prayer at the beginning of the school year during those years.) What I don’t recall is whether the Gideons proselytized (sp?) at the time of the distribution. I also don’t recall whether the Plan of Salvation was included.
To avoid the appearance of religious bias maybe they should have a table where books, including the Koran, be kept and students could take one or all as they saw fit.
Can someone explain to me by what legal basis a Federal judge has jurisdiction over a state school over matters of religious expression? Has Congress passed a law? Has the 8th Circuit ever heard of the 10th Amendment?