When I was a little boy the Gideons showed up at Hope P. Sullivan Elementary School in Mississippi. Christian businessmen dressed in suits – and they gave each of us a little copy of the New Testament. If memory serves me correctly, it also contained the Psalms and Proverbs.
The Gideons have been giving away God’s Word for generations – in school houses and hotel rooms across the fruited plain.
But lately, the Gideons have come under attack. This time in Butler County, Kansas.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the mother of a child at Bluestem Elementary School was upset because the Gideons had been invited to pass out Bibles.
Children had to obtain a permission slip from their parents in order to get the Good Book which seemed like a reasonable thing to do.
But the mom told the Wichita Eagle that she felt like her child was being proselytized – and that the distribution of Bibles could violate another child’s civil rights.
“We are a Christian family, we go to church every Sunday, my kids have Bibles,” she told the newspaper. “But I did not put my children in public schools to have them be proselytized to. We don’t know what anybody’s religion is in that school and violating another child’s civil rights is absolutely insane to me, that a school district would even entertain this. I believe, based on what I read, that it’s illegal for them to come to the school and be on school grounds, especially during instructional time.”
So the mom reached out to a bunch of radical out-of-town atheists and long story short – the Gideon’s have been banned.
“Please disregard the permission slip sent home yesterday from The Gideons International. There will not be a new testament Bible offering on April 24, 2024. We apologize for any inconvenience,” read a message that was sent to the mom from the school.
As I wrote in my new book, “Twilight’s Last Gleaming: Can America Be Saved?” the problems in our taxpayer-funded schools started the day they kicked God and the Gideons out of the classroom. Click here to read my book.
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