Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
Atheists complained about a Christian organization distributing Bibles in a government school in Kansas every year, threatening legal action if the school didn’t stop the practice. The school district complied. (Without discussion or debate?)
The so-called American Humanist Association wrote a letter of complaint on behalf of an atheist student’s mother to Geary County Schools Superintendent Corbin Witt and Seitz Elementary School Principal Jodi Testa last Tuesday threatening legal action for allowing Gideon International to distribute Bibles during school hours. They demanded the school end “formal distribution” of Bibles during school hours, and bar teachers from the same during class hours and persuading or inviting students to take Bibles.
According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Bibles had been placed in the hallway, and teachers told students they could take a Bible if they wanted one.
The atheists said the nine-year-old fourth-grader felt “extremely uncomfortable” about having the choice to take a Bible. The superintendent apparently tried to reason with the atheists, reminding them that students weren’t forced to take a Bible, and the school was within its rights to distribute Bibles.
By Friday, the deed was done. The school district’s lawyer told (PDF) the atheists that the school would comply; however, the district seemed to have gone beyond the demand. According to the letter, the district will “no longer facilitate the Gideons distributing bibles in our school district.”
Did the district kick the Gideons out, or just stop school-hours distributions?
Do you agree with the school district’s decision? Would your opinion change if those had been Korans on the table?
