Florida School Tries to Ban Bibles on Religious Freedom Day
Fort Myers, FL – Today Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit to overturn a recent ban on distributing Bibles on the public school campuses of Collier County, Florida. For years, the school board allowed World Changers to distribute free Bibles to interested students during off-school hours on Religious Freedom Day, but now the school officials claim that Bibles do not provide any educational benefit to the students and the distribution should stop.
The Collier County School District policy specifically allows the distribution of literature by nonprofit organizations, but only with the approval of the superintendent and the Community Request Committee, whose members are appointed by the superintendent. Approval was denied to World Changers, despite the fact that its distribution included a disclaimer of any school endorsement or sponsorship and that receiving a Bible was purely voluntary. The district, nevertheless, censored World Changers’ message simply because it included the Bible.
The school district, like many others, suffers from a misunderstanding of the First Amendment. The Establishment Clause does not prohibit private religious speech or literature; under Supreme Court case law, it prohibits only government religious speech. The distribution of Bibles by World Changers is private speech. As the Supreme Court has stated: “There is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the Establishment Clause forbids, and private speech endorsing religion, which the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect.” Collier County does not appear to understand this crucial difference.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “How sad that on the eve of Independence Day, when we celebrate the religious and political freedom our forefathers won for us at the cost of much blood and great sacrifice, we are compelled to sue to protect the right simply to make free Bibles available to students in public schools. Many of our founding fathers were taught to read using the Bible. If it had no educational value, then many of them would have been illiterate. The distribution of religious literature in a forum opened for secular literature is constitutionally protected.”
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19 Responses to “Florida School Tries to Ban Bibles on Religious Freedom Day”
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Satan trembles at the sight and sound of Gods word. If only we knew the power of God like those devils who fear it do!!
Doing Satan’s work? Hardly. The schools are just upholding the constitution by not endorsing religion (a violation of the 1st Amendment).
The Gideons can pass out Bibles in just about any other public location. Quit trying to exploit secular, public education for your own sectarian purposes.
I do not think there is a misunderstanding at all. These school systems know exactly what they are doing. They are pushing the Word of God right out of the school. What they are unaware of, is that they are doing Satan’s work him. Or then again, maybe they do.
I am sorry to say that “Rev.”Wright was right.YAHWEH has indeed da…. America.What a tragedy.
As a fellow Christian, your articles really point out what’s wrong with Christianity today. You fly off the handle at the most minor of details and never bother to read or critically think about news issues like this. You purposely leave out important information to raise the ire and disgust of good-hearted people, without ever teaching the lessons of humility, perseverance, reflection and respect of Christ.
Shame. Shame. Go out there and spread the good news to all those who need hear it. Not lie to people to further your own scared, ignorant and very un-Christ like agenda.
Mr. Goodman, thank-you for illustrating the mindset of Laodicea. You’ve done a brilliant job. Keep that head in the sand…
So it is a ‘minor detail’ to you that a school seeks to ban the Bible from being distrubuted to students (during off hours) and on (of all days!) “Religious Freedom Day’? ‘As a fellow Christian’, you have no problem with that at all? Isn’t using our freedom to give out Bibles a wonderful way of ‘spreading the news to all who need to hear it’.
Would you mind elaborating on the “important information” what was left out of the above article? You can’t just make accusations without spelling out exactly what you mean. You accused Ingrid of lying. Where is the lie? You made a blanket accusation and tried to demean her character with nothing to back it up. You say she never teaches ‘lessons of humility, perseverance, reflection and respect of Christ.’ Totally false. She teaches all of the above while also being a staunch defender of the faith.
‘Shame, Shame’ and how very ‘un-Christ like of you, Sir.
The important information that was left out is that it is now school policy to ban distribution of all religious literature. This is not an anti-christian policy.
So let me ask you this? Do you think that a religious group should be able to hand out copies of the Koran on the school campus? You can’t have different policies for different religions.
Actually yes Mr. Doe,
Let them hand out any literature they like. The students already have access via library, internet, etc. to anything they want to put their hands on.
The difference is “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
No other book can do this. That’s why it scares everyone to death. So, just as when Herod ordered the killing of all the babies just to be sure he got the one, they will stop the distribution of all religious literature just to silence the Truth.
Amen to that!
Look…World Changers were handing out Bibles during the after school hours FOR YEARS there…YEARS! Were any other religious groups handing out literature as often or as consistently as this Christian group? To me it is as plain as the nose on your face…this recent ban targeted mainly Christians and this group in particular. No other religious group is bringing a lawsuit, are they?…so can’t be they were affected, right? Do you know for a fact that there were a number of other non-Christian organizations who were doing the same thing there? It sure looks to me like school officials wanted to stop what World Changers was doing….so they passed their little ban on ALL religious hand-outs and got rid of that pesky little problem….the Christians. How clever of them!
Of course! Other religions should be free as well to hand out their literature to students on off hours…That is what FREEDOM OF SPEECH, particulary religious free speech means! I am not one bit afraid of these other groups because what they are handing out (if they ARE handing anything) does not contain the truth. Let them hand out their stuff and let us hand out our Bibles. The Bible, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is able change hearts. But it can’t change them if it never gets into their hands.
So you see, we don’t need different policies for different religions as you are trying to suggest. We just need FREEDOM to share the best news that has ever come to man. The Good News found in the Bible far surpasses the works righteousness salvation and love of death taught by the Koran…so I am not a bit worried.
Your arguments didn’t pass muster and your criticisms of Ingrid are still baseless.
So, the most influential book in all of the history of mankind has “no educational benefit”. What arrogance.
A little additional information. This article from a local Naples, FL paper suggests that the school district officials had decided to ban the distribution of any religious literature, not just Christian material.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/jul/01/christian-suing-collier-school-prohibit-bible/?partner=popular
And your point is…
Ingrid,
Back from your vacation, but still haven’t posted my comments.
Hmmm… I was relaxed, really, but you’ve still not made good on what you said.
Not just Bibles are banned but ANY religious literature? That makes it even worse. That means not even little tracts are tolerated on Religious Freedom [sic] Day.
I’m sorry, I misread DrMark’s comment.
For them to ban religious literature on Religious Freedom Day would seem to render “Religious Freedom Day” a bit of an oxymoron, don’t you think?
I think they probably realized a bible might pop up to bite them.. so they banned it all.
What are they so afraid of? If the Bible has no educational value, why the fuss? The powers that be that operate behind the veil know exactly what value it has.
But God is more powerful so, no worries.