Distribution of Bibles During School Hours
| This section's representation of one or more viewpoints about a controversial issue may be unbalanced or inaccurate. Please improve the article or discuss the issue on the talk page. |
For several years, the South Iron R-1 School District in Missouri allowed Gideons International to distribute Bibles to fifth-grade students during class time. Americans United for Separation of Church and State brought suit against the school district, bringing an end to this practice.
In 2009, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis upheld a lower court ruling that found the South Iron district's distribution of Bibles to the schoolchildren in their classrooms was unconstitutional. But the court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that the district can enact a new policy permitting "any printed material" approved by the superintendent to be distributed outside classroom time.
The tradition of handing out small Gideon New Testaments continues in many British secondary schools. The British state school system has far less of a separation between church and state compared to the American example above (e.g., Christian prayers and hymns often take place in school assemblies). While a criminal or civil prosecution of the Gideons has yet to take place on this basis, some schools have banned the Gideon group. The Upland Unified School District allows the Gideons to distribute Bibles outside of its school premises after school.
Read more about this topic: Gideons International
Famous quotes containing the words distribution of, distribution, bibles, school and/or hours:
“Classical and romantic: private language of a family quarrel, a dead dispute over the distribution of emphasis between man and nature.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)
“Classical and romantic: private language of a family quarrel, a dead dispute over the distribution of emphasis between man and nature.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)
“As for the sacred Scriptures, or Bibles of mankind, who in this town can tell me even their titles? Most men do not know that any nation but the Hebrews have had a scripture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is not that the Englishman can’t feel—it is that he is afraid to feel. He has been taught at his public school that feeling is bad form. He must not express great joy or sorrow, or even open his mouth too wide when he talks—his pipe might fall out if he did.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“That big gun in your hand makes you look grown up—you think! I’ll bet you spend hours posing in front of a mirror holding it, trying to look tough!... You scum!”
—Richard Brooks (1912–1992)