White County Schools ends Gideon Bible handout after ACLU complaint

[doeriver]

White County Schools ends Gideon Bible handout after ACLU complaint
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110510/NEWS03/305100043/White-County-Schools-ends-Gideon-Bible-handout-after-ACLU-complaint?odyssey=mod|mostcom
4:02 AM, May. 10, 2011
By Bob Smietana | The Tennessean

Schools in White County, Tenn., will ban the Gideons from distributing Bibles to students in classrooms, according to a deal announced Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.

Hedy Weinberg, executive director for ACLU-TN, said her organization received a complaint that members of the Gideons handed out Bibles last month at Doyle Elementary School in Doyle, about 100 miles east of Nashville.

The Gideons came into the classroom, and students were invited up to get a Bible if they wanted one. A student said she didn’t want to take one but felt pressured to do so. Her mother later complained to school officials and then to the ACLU, according to a statement from the civil liberties group.

The Gideons, a nonprofit ministry based in Nashville, did not respond to a request for comment...

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