Gideons distribute bibles to local Texan school
Posted by Mathew | June 16, 2009 | No Comments
Gideons International came under fire last month in Texas after parents learned that the Christian organisation was permitted by Frisco Independent Schools to distribute pocket bibles at public schools within its district. The move was viewed by some parents as a breach of trust by the school board and complaints were lodged shortly after it became apparent that the Gideons were allowed to setup a display table on school grounds. Bibles and other biblical materials were left on the tables, free for students to browse at their leisure – there was no canvassing by Gideon staff. The choice was always given the student, without harassment.
I had just started high school (age 12) when I first heard of the Gideons. I went to a public school which held Monday morning school assemblies at which they would regularly have guest speakers (a welcome break from our school Principle, Vice Principle and home-group teachers!). The guests often ranged from sex-education instructors, who threw out handfuls of condoms to the students during their presentation, to swearing Catholic priests talking about the work they did to help the destitute on our city streets, to police officers, military service-men and the like – I guess all in an effort to expose our young minds to a wide variety of work and causes to broaden our horizons. Then there were the Gideons – organised and invited, I think, by our school Chaplain. Instead of handing out condoms to a bunch of pubescent kids aged from 12 to 18, the Gideons handed out pocket sized New Testaments, bound by bright-red synthetic leather covers with bible-brittle pages. I had no idea what was the significance of such a little book was at the time (not being a Christian nor having been brought up in a Christian household) but I do remember being appalled – why, I don’t know – during recess following the assembly presentation: the school grounds were littered with these little red books, pages torn out of them, floating around the grounds, or lying in bins. Some of the more brazen students were strutting around playing at Jesus and declaring their friends to repent or burn in hell; yet others performed mock exorcisms on classmates.
School kids can be disrespectful at best and mockingly cruel at worst – I know: I was one of them.
But not in this instance. I collected a few of the small bibles that had been tossed away. I still have the original one I was handed – the others I likely either lost (they’re small!) or had given away. I can’t for the life of me remember anything of what the Gideon reps said at that assembly. But I know that that little Gideon bible would get a lot of use from me when, some years later, I entered into University – I would read it on the train. I used to cycle to the station, so the small pocket size bible was just perfect for keeping space and weight to a minimum in my backpack. I would pray before reading, read a Psalm and then a chapter of the New Testament, then pray again in closing. As a new Christian at the time, my 45 minute train journey offered ample bible-study, meditation and reflection time – and I was hungry and eager for it then.
The Gideons bibles, like the Good News Bibles, have a terrific section at the front of them that directs you to certain passages by different topics: what to read when feeling afraid or alone or lost or in need of support; important Biblical stories like Jesus’ birth and resurrection and Noah’s flood; key parables, etc.
Since becoming a Christian, leaving University and then embarking into the workforce, I’ve had opportunities of travelling away from home and it has always been an encouragement for me to find a Gideons bible in the drawer of the bedside tables of the hotels I’ve stayed in. I would open them and crack the spines so that bibles would fall open to some of my favourite passages. I’ve seen Gideon bibles with pages torn out of them, too. Nothing like some encouragement on the go! 
So given the blessing that the distribution of those little red pocket Gideon bibles during my high school years, I was certainly surprised to see this story of outraged parents in Texas; I was even more amused at some of the comments and objections raised by parents of students who attend the schools where the Gideons were allowed to display their materials. Especially this one from mother Debbie Lutz:
“I am not atheist — I believe in God. But I just don’t want any religion forced on my child at school. That’s why my child goes to a public school.”
The simple response to this is that, if you don’t instruct your own children in what you personally believe, then you’re leaving them open to anything at all anyway. I have never understood parents who state that they want their children to grow up and make up their own minds about religion – as if that’s the neutral position. No, there’s no neutrality on these matters – absence of one thing does not exclude a bias because it is itself its own bias. What parents who hold this position should be doing – if they are true to their position at all – is to put their children (and perhaps themselves) through a comparative religion course at the very least so that they get a basic understanding of many faiths. That seems to make more sense to me rather than digging your heels in the ground and casting a delusional air of “neutrality”.
If you make up your mind not believe in anything in order to be neutral you have by default already stated that you hold a belief. There’s no neutrality about it.
And there’s no harm in what the Gideons have done, either. For all you know, that simple, discreet, red-cover bible may prove to be a tremendous comfort and assurance to your child in ten years to come. Or they may choose to toss it around in the schoolyard.
Why not give your children the choice? After all, wasn’t “choice” of belief the reason why you sent them to a public school to begin with?
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Tags: bible > Christianity > culture > Gideons > Religion
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