Christian Attorney: Judge Erred in Halting School Bible Giveaway
by Jim Brown
September 15, 2006
(AgapePress) - - An attorney and specialist in constitutional law says federal court Judge Catherine Perry displayed inappropriate animus toward religion by ordering a public school in Annapolis, Missouri, to end a Bible giveaway program for fifth graders until she issues a final order. Judge Perry's preliminary injunction says South Iron Elementary School wrongly allowed the Bible handouts solely to promote Christianity to students. Many other schools have also stopped distribution of the pocket-sized Gideon Bibles, often in response to lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. (See related article)
Mike DePrimo, senior litigation counsel at the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, says Perry's ruling was extremely hostile toward religion in general, and toward the Bible in particular, since "the Gideons are not part of the government." Members of that well-known Christian group "simply requested and were permitted to come onto the school grounds to distribute Bibles," he contends, "so I think the judge got it completely wrong."
The Gideons International, an evangelical Christian parachurch organization, distributes millions of free Bibles each year through hotels, prisons, hospitals, and schools. Its work "doesn't have anything to do with the government at all," DePrimo insists. And in the case of South Iron Elementary, he says, "the government was simply accommodating a private party or private organization to come in and exercise their right to free speech."
The pro-family attorney believes Judge Perry erred in her ruling. "Private individuals, and private groups have the right to go onto school property to distribute religious literature to the same extent that any other private individual or group can come onto school property and distribute non-religious literature," he asserts.
Courts have held that allowing religious groups to pass out literature as part of a classroom activity does violate the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause, DePrimo acknowledges. However, he says it is entirely permissible under the law for religious groups to distribute material in school libraries or hallways.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
