The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kentucky sent a letter to 174 public school superintendents on April 4, citing the possibility of a lawsuit in the 2013-2014 academic school year if they continue to allow The Gideons International to distribute Bibles, the New Testament, and religious literature to students on public school campuses, the Christian Post website reports today (April 8, 2013).
In the letter accompanying the Open Records Act request, William Sharp -- the ACLU Kentucky staff attorney -- states that the distribution of religious literature on public school grounds during school hours violates federal law.
Sharp wrote... "the practice violates both federal and state constitutional guarantees barring governmental endorsement of religion, and it also impermissibly encroaches upon parents' prerogative to direct the religious upbringing of their children."
Michael Aldridge -- the executive director of the Kentucky ACLU -- said in a statement: "Directing the religious upbringing of one's own children is one of the most fundamental rights a parent can have. When government officials, including school officials, take it upon themselves to usurp that parental prerogative, they exceed their governmental authority and undermine religious liberty."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I live in Kentucky and I have never heard of the Gideons distributing Bibles on public school grounds. The former superintendent of the Anderson County Schools was a Gideon himself, but as far as I know Bibles weren't distributed at those schools.
ReplyDeleteI think this is as tempest in a teapot.