School faces suit for distributing free Bibles to students

AMITE, La. — The Tangipahoa Parish School Board is facing another federal lawsuit, this time from a parent claiming that the district permitted the distribution of Bibles to students on school property during class. The suit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, was filed May 17 in U.S. District Court in New Orleans. In addition to the nine school board members, the suit names the schools superintendent and a middle school principal as defendants.

“They’re habitual offenders when it comes to promoting religion in schools,” said Joe Cook, executive director of Louisiana’s branch of the ACLU. “In this case, they teamed up with someone else.”

The lawsuit centers on an incident described by “Jane Roe,” a fifth-grader at Loranger Middle School.

“Roe’s” teacher sent the class to the front office where two men, assumed to be representatives from The Gideons International, were passing out Bibles to the students, according to the suit.

The men handed a Bible to each student and said, “God bless you,” the suit claimed.

Gideons are part of an evangelical Christian organization that distributes Bibles to various institutions worldwide. School officials had approved the distribution, which occurs every year in the fifth grade, according to the suit.

The girl’s parents, who are Catholic, objected to the practice, claiming it violated their right to control the religious upbringing of their child and subjected her to religious indoctrination, Cook said.

— RNS