Tennessee: School district ends visits by Gideons, free Bibles as ‘unconstitutional’
The distribution of Bibles by the Gideons has been banned in six Tennessee schools because it has been deemed unconstitutional.
Six schools in Bledsoe County School District are no longer allowed to welcome Gideons International, an organization that distributes Bibles to students who wish to have them.
“Bledsoe County Schools do not allow the distribution of religious materials from any religious groups. The distribution of religious materials in a public school is in violation of constitutional provisions and well established federal and state laws and precedence,” explained Bledsoe County Schools Superintendent Jennifer Terry.
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Roosevelt’s Bible photo supplied RRAuction.com
In defense of Bible distribution in public schools, Charlie Queen, chaplain for Sequatchie Valley Camp of Gideons said, “We simply go in and we lay it on the table. We tell them what it is and who we are. If they want one, they freely take one. We do not hand it to them, they take it freely and voluntarily.”
Queen, chaplain for Sequatchie Valley Camp of Gideons, told WRCB-TV. “We simply go in and we lay it on the table. We tell them what it is and who we are. If they want one, they freely take one. We do not hand it to them, they take it freely and voluntarily.”
Queen, along with others in the community, laments the ban and has called it a “loss of freedom.”
Pastor Bill Wolfe of the Lee Station Baptist Church agrees with Queen and has stated that his “whole congregation is very upset.”
“We’re sliding further and further away from the principles our nation was founded on and it’s very sad because we used to be ‘One Nation under God,’” said Wolfe. “Now, I really believe we are slipping further away and we’re not going to be able to say that much longer.”
Local residents are planning to hold a protest during the next school board meeting.
