A Christian group may soon get the go-ahead from the board of education to hand out scripture to middle school and high school students in Brunswick County.
A local chapter of Gideons International made a written request to the school board earlier this year for permission to distribute free Bibles to students during school hours.
But if the board decides next month to revise its religion in schools policy in order to grant the Gideons’ request, students may be taking home information that goes way beyond the normal youth league sign-up sheets and Girl Scout brochures.
During the board’s monthly meeting last Tuesday, attorney Joseph Causey told board members that letting one religious group into the schools means letting in Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists, Atheists and any other religious or non-religious groups that want to come in.
“You wouldn’t be able to discriminate. You would have no control. That means the Bible, the Koran or some Satanic book, theoretically,” Causey said last week.
Causey’s advice echoed the earlier legal opinion of North Carolina School Boards Association attorney Kendra Dockery. In a letter to school officials, Dockery said that a policy broad enough to allow the distribution of free Christian materials in schools would also be broad enough to include any other religious organization.
“Once you permit the distribution of such material, you have to allow any type of religious or anti-religious material to be distributed,” Dockery wrote. “You cannot discriminate on the basis of viewpoint and cannot favor one type of religion over another religion.”
The school system’s policy on the distribution of non-school material allows outside groups and organizations, subject to principal approval, to give information to students as long as it matches public school curriculum. Groups like the Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops and youth league associations that promote character development and health and wellness, Supt. Dr. Katie McGee said, fall under the North Carolina standard course of study and therefore are typically allowed in schools throughout the year.
But the school board deals with free religious materials in an entirely separate policy. The current religion in schools policy states that religious books, including Bibles, “may not be generally distributed by religious groups to students at school.”
Changes can be made to the policy, Causey said, to allow Gideons to give Bibles to county students, but he warned board members they would need to set some restrictions not placed on secular groups in order to stay within the letter of the law. Those restrictions include limiting distribution to high school students, allowing hand-outs only once a year and opening the opportunity to all religious affiliations, not just Christians.
Last week board members ignored Causey’s advice, opting instead in a 3-2 vote (members Shirley Babson, Ray Gilbert and Jimmy Hobbs voted in favor; Willie Gore and Scott Milligan voted against) to begin work on a policy that would allow the Gideons to enter both middle schools and high schools.
As for dealing with requests from other religious groups, board member Hobbs said in a follow-up interview that would be considered on a “case-by-case” basis.
“We are responding to a specific letter from a specific group,” he said. “I think we should look at this on a case-by-case basis as we receive requests.”
But Causey said that legally that would not work. He cited a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals case, Peck v. Upshur County Board of Education, which upheld a school district’s right to hand out scripture under specific guidelines. One of those, he said, was the mandatory approval of any religious group’s request to come into schools.
“You can’t do that according to this case. You can’t just close the door on one group,” he said.
Brunswick County Schools officials are currently drafting policy changes that the board will review at next month’s meeting.
More information...
Who are the Gideons?
The oldest Christian business and professional men’s association in the country, Gideons International also serves as an extension of the church. Since 1899, the Gideons have had one mission: “winning others to Christ.” To achieve this goal, they supply free Bibles and testaments to people all over the world. They place Bibles in hotel rooms, prisons, hospitals, doctors’ offices, ships, airplanes, colleges and universities and hand out scriptures and testaments to students from fifth grade through high school and to military personnel. Annually, they distribute more than 63 million scriptures worldwide.
How did Gideons International form?
In 1898, John Nicholson had to share a room with Samuel Hill in a crowded hotel in Wisconsin. The men discovered they were both devout Christians and soon after decided to form an association for fellow Christian businessmen. Their first meeting, attended by only one other man, William Knights, was held at a Y.M.C.A. in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1899. The first Bibles were distributed in hotel rooms in 1908. The organization now has more than 280,000 members in 181 countries.
Why are they called Gideons?
During their first meeting, the three men prayed about what name they should give their organization. Knights decided on Gideons, named after Gideon, a man in the Old Testament who exhibited great faith and was willing to do what God asked of him, regardless of his own judgment. In Hebrew, Gideon means “mighty warrior.” The Biblical Gideon showed humility, faith and obedience to God. Gideons International tries to apply those characteristics in its mission.
Local policy
What is the Brunswick County board of education’s current religion in schools policy?
According to the religion in schools policy drafted in 1994, “religious books, including Bibles, or religious symbols may not be given to students as an award for achievement and may not be generally distributed by religious groups to students at schools.”
State guidelines
What does the state say?
The North Carolina School Board Association developed a model policy for school districts in the state that says “non-students will not be permitted to distribute publications on school grounds during the school day or at school activities if the materials are unrelated to instruction.”
In a letter to Brunswick County Schools, Kendra Dockery, legal counsel for the state school board, said the school system could use the state’s model, revise the model (to allow handouts for specific non-profit youth-related activities, for example) or allow for distribution of handouts from any group. Dockery advised the Brunswick County school board that if it develops a policy broad enough to allow distribution of Bibles, the board would have to allow any type of religious or anti-religious material to be given to students.
“You cannot discriminate on the basis of viewpoint and cannot favor one type of religion over another religion or favor religion over non-religion,” Dockery wrote.
Other districts
What do other school districts say?
Winston-Salem (Forsyth County) Schools allows donated religious materials to be available to all students in school libraries but “no distribution of religious books or literature shall be made in classrooms, homerooms, assemblies or in any part of the school facility by teachers, staff, students or outsiders.”
Durham County Schools do not allow “commercial advertisements or other promotional materials” on campus unless approved by the principal. Those materials can only be distributed if they “relate to an approved school or school system promotion, or related activity, or are contained in school-sponsored publications or productions.” Wake County Schools has a similar policy.
In New Hanover County, students can only take home materials from: the school system; agencies or departments within the towns, county, state or federal government and the state university system; Parent Teacher Associations and school booster groups; and non-profit organizations whose activities conform to the N.C. standard course of study.
