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Sorry, but you're wrong on all counts (as is the judge). There is nothing wrong with a NON-TAXPAYER FUNDED group passing out anything at all. It's not the job of the school to be "gatekeeper" on ANY topic. If the kid's parents require them to toss whatever freebies they get, then THAT is the correct way to handle the problem. As long as the Bibles weren't purchased by tax dollars, then, as far as I'm concerned, it's perfectly OK to allow them to be distributed

Get serious here and stop fixating on the Bible. Do you want planned parenthood (a non-taxpayer funded group) to pass out condoms, masturbation instructions, abortion literature? How about CAIR and Korans? How about NAMBLA passing out (use your imagination)? Of course the school is the gatekeeper. They have a legal responsibilities when children are entrusted to their care. Just because you want children reading Bibles doesn't mean you bend the rules JUST for your cause.

"Get serious here and stop fixating on the Bible. Do you want planned parenthood (a non-taxpayer funded group) to pass out condoms, masturbation instructions, abortion literature? How about CAIR and Korans? How about NAMBLA passing out (use your imagination)? Of course the school is the gatekeeper. They have a legal responsibilities when children are entrusted to their care. Just because you want children reading Bibles doesn't mean you bend the rules JUST for your cause.

Who's fixated on the Bible?? I've got no problem with anybody passing out anything, as long as there are NO restrictions on what can be passed out, and none of it is funded by taxpayer dollars. Guess what---most kids are already well aware of those "forbidden subjects", courtesy of the Internet (if the school's themselves aren't passing out the materials--WITH taxpayer funding--and that I "do" have a problem with). As far as "shielding" them---it's already way too late. The only real remedy is to see that they get exposed to ALL SIDES, so they can make an informed personal judgment. And that is REALLY what education is supposed to be about.

rhombus, the local school district, controlled by the parents via the school board, would squash any NAMBLA material or other ridiculous examples.

That being said, I think that if the local school board felt Bible distribution was inappropriate, then they could stop it, too.

Doesn't federalism require this issue to be resolved LOCALLY and not by a government judge? I think so.

Of course the school is the gatekeeper. They have a legal responsibilities when children are entrusted to their care. Just because you want children reading Bibles doesn’t mean you bend the rules JUST for your cause
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Yes, of course! All schools must be gatekeepers! If they weren’t chaos would reign. And,,,this gate keeping is never religiously neutral in content or consequences. It can’t be. It is axiomatic.

So...NO matter what this government school decides it will establish the religious worldview of its favored citizen groups, and undermine and destroy the religious traditions of others. There is NO neutral action that this school can take. Impossible!

But the court won’t address this issue. It will narrowly rule as always.

How would parents feel if they found NAMBLA propaganda, Satanic literature, Muslim recruitment material?

Solution: Get government OUT of the education business. What is needed is complete separation of school and state on EVERY government level. ( federal, state, and local!)