Reading Bibles Out To Lunch

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from cnsnews.com, with a headline:Maryland Schools Sued For Refusing To Let Girl Read Bible.The following are excerpts:A conservative civil liberties group has filed suit against a school in Greenbelt, Maryland, for violating the constitutional right of a 7^th grader who was allegedly threatened with discipline for reading her Bible in school.The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the District of Maryland against Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School.Eighth grade Vice Principal Rainy and Principal Coleman, are among the defendants in the suit.According to the student’s mother, Mary Ann Mangum, Amber was reading her Bible after finishing her lunch when Rainy gave her a verbal warning to put the Bible away.Amber was told she was not allowed to read it and if it happened again, Amber would be punished, her mother said.She didn’t take the Bible back to school.The school district’s policy, along with the guidelines under the US Department of Education 2003, “No Child Left Behind Act” give students the right to read Bibles or other religious scriptures during lunch hour, recess or other non-instructional times.NCLVA, which is Federal law that came in under the Bush administration, actually has this provision stating that students have a right to read their Bible, or other religious scriptures during the school day.It provides for that.It says also that you can actually get your Federal funding taken away if you violate the NCLVA,John W. Whitehead, President and Founder of the Rutherford Institute, explained.But Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists, said most of the time right wing groups that file lawsuits exaggerate what happened in school, and that is usually brought out later in the case.“What probably happened is this kid, I’ll bet you, was being disruptive.I’ll bet this kid was proselytizing with preaching, doing something that was annoying other kids and was told to stop.Kids don’t normally want to read the Bible at lunch time, I don’t care who they are.It’s just not something kids want to do,” said Johnson.

Tom:

Dave, this is a really interesting article for a number of reasons.Number one:A conservative civil liberties group filed suit against the school.That doesn’t usually happen.

Dave:

Tom, you wonder why they would have to file suit.You would think there would be enough for this girl, or her mother, to go to the principal with this law, this “No Child Left Behind” law in the NCLVA, which gives that right, and that would be the end of it.So, probably, maybe they did that, I don’t know.

Tom:

And got no satisfaction, could be.

Dave:

Yeah, so then this atheist, of course,---well, she is jumping to all kinds of conclusions.

Tom:

She certainly doesn’t understand, for a believer in the Bible why they would read it, even a middle school.

Dave:

“Kids don’t normally want to read the Bible at lunch time” but apparently she thinks they would rather preach.So, that’s what she said---Oh, it must have been preaching, must have been proselytizing.Well, if she doesn’t think they would read the Bible at lunch time, what makes her think they would proselytize or preach during lunch time.So, the lady is very confused, which she would have to be to imagine that this universe all happened by chance and that God doesn’t exist.But Tom, this is only symptomatic.It’s far worse, of course, because the schools are actively trying to undermine the student’s belief in God, evolution.

Tom:

Well, certainly the God of the Bible. You can bring all kinds of gods, Allah, because they are being instructed in Qur’an in many schools, no problem there.

Dave:

Now that’s incredible, anything goes except Jesus Christ, Jesus is a bad name.But Tom, we are trying to destroy the morals of our students in our schools by teaching them evolution.If we are just related to apes, or whatever, apes don’t have any morals, why should we have any.How do we pick up morals along the way?And if evolution can explain this universe, then you don’t need God.Without God, who is watching over you?I mean, this is why we have rebellion in school.Why should I obey my parents, or why should I obey the school authorities or the government?I mean, after all life is very short, let’s live like animals, just get everything you can, cheat and steal.

Tom:

Well, survival of the fittest.

Dave:

That’s exactly right.So, why should there be any rules at all?Of course the Bible says that God has ordained that there should be rules, and He has put government in charge to execute His righteousness.So Tom, it’s just incredible what’s going on, and this is scarcely the tip of the iceberg.

Tom:

Now Dave, one last point.This conservative liberties group is probably referring to John Whitehead’s group, the Rutherford Institute which gets involved in situations like this, and I don’t see them wanting to maintain their reputation, getting involved with something that, you know, this child was actually disrupting, you know, as the American atheist individual.That’s the complaint, so I would think they have a case, and well, it would be interesting to follow up on this and see what happened.

Dave:

Tom, I think it would be thrown out of court.I don’t see how the school district could even begin to defend.They would have to just say, We surrender.This teacher was, or vice principal, whatever it was, was violating the NCLVA.It’s a clear law, it gives the right to read your Bible, or other religious literature at lunch time or recess, or whatever.So, I’m surprised that it even got to the court.The school officials must not know the law, or they are being rather stubborn, or they don’t like the law, and they are going to try and do it their own way.Maybe they think they have some other laws, or some other basis for keeping the Bible, even on a lunch hour, out of their school.I don’t know, Tom, and I guess that will be interesting to see what happens.