Handing out Bibles after school?

[sophia jane]

At a local middle school today, there were men waiting outside after school to hand out Bibles to the students as they left for the day.

I'm disgusted by the whole thing, and am trying to find some kind of precedent for the legality of this. A quick google search pulled up several such incidents, so it seems this is a fairly common thing to happen. So...what I want to know is if this is legal? I get the whole 1st Ammendment thing, but it gets a little hazy for me when we're letting strangers hand out Bibles to kids without their parents present. Would love to hear any info y'all have on this kind of thing, or if anyone else has seen this happen. Also would love to know of successes in getting it to stop.


Thanks!

 

[OhMissScarlett]

At a local middle school today, there were men waiting outside after school to hand out Bibles to the students as they left for the day.

I'm disgusted by the whole thing, and am trying to find some kind of precedent for the legality of this. A quick google search pulled up several such incidents, so it seems this is a fairly common thing to happen. So...what I want to know is if this is legal? I get the whole 1st Ammendment thing, but it gets a little hazy for me when we're letting strangers hand out Bibles to kids without their parents present. Would love to hear any info y'all have on this kind of thing, or if anyone else has seen this happen. Also would love to know of successes in getting it to stop.


Thanks!

This happened once while I was in high school and when I called the police to ask about it, they said there was nothing they could do as long as the people handing them out weren't on school property.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

What the heck, it's a free country, let 'em hand out bibles, or satanist tracts, or Atlas Shrugged, or the Koran, or Confucius, or whatever the heck they want. Let 100 flowers bloom - hand it all out.

 

[Darkniciad]

They're books. Exactly how interested is a kid coming out of school actually going to be in anything handed to them, let alone a book?

Think about it, what would you have done at that age? Rolled your eyes and walked past? Take it politely and dump it in the next trashbin or hurl it into the pile of stuff in the corner of your bedroom? Crack off some joke like "Thanks! I was almost out of toilet paper!"?

The percentage of people who would take them and actually read them ( barring those individuals who are already in god's camp ) has to be so miniscule as to be almost nil.

Assuming they're not on school property ( The Gideons actually used to hand these out in school, usually once a year, from what I remember. ) there is no law being broken. Attempting to chase them off is a pure violation of their 1st Amendment rights.

What if it was Planned Parenthood standing out there handing out condoms?

No difference.

 

[3113]

The first thing I thought was that I want to go there and start handing out Satanic bibles, Buddist texts, maybe the Qur'an.

There's no teaching these folk not to do this until you show them that it can be done to THEIR kids. Then they'll get the message. It's only when they fear for their own kids, and their own freedom of religion that they stop forcing it down others throats.

 

[Darkniciad]

The first thing I thought was that I want to go there and start handing out Satanic bibles, Buddist texts, maybe the Qur'an.

There's no teaching these folk not to do this until you show them that it can be done to THEIR kids. Then they'll get the message. It's only when they fear for their own kids, and their own freedom of religion that they stop forcing it down others throats.

They tend to start foaming at the mouth when their own methods are turned back on them. The condom example is one of them.

I walked into Waldenbooks once and found a couple of blue-haired old ladies slipping "You're going to hell" cards into every fantasy, sci-fi, romance, etc. book in the whole store.

I bought a copy of Dragon Magazine, made about forty copies of the subscription card, and put one in every copy of the bible. They started screaming bloody murder and got thrown out. I dumped their cards out of what I was buying and went on my way, whistling "Bright Side of Life"

They don't learn anything from it either, because the same two old ladies got banned from the store the next day for doing it again. Zealots ( be they religious or not ) don't learn, they just stagnate like swamp water and start to stink.

 

[elsol]

What the heck, it's a free country, let 'em hand out bibles, or satanist tracts, or Atlas Shrugged, or the Koran, or Confucius, or whatever the heck they want. Let 100 flowers bloom - hand it all out.

A religious text, a religious text, a work of fiction, a religious text....

 

[English Lady]

I honestly, truthfully don't see the problem, firstly I think darkniciad is right, which of those kids is going to read a bible handed to them anyway? And if they do, what's the harm in that?

I'd want to check anything my child was given for free outside of inside the school gates. (my little one goes to a Church Of England school, so it's very much Christian run) but I'd have no problem with people handing out whatever by the school. I know the mormons used to hang out around my secondary school, we learnt to avoid them like the plague *L* I was given mormon and Jehovah's witness material pretty often all through my teens, I'd more often than not just throw it away.

A child will make his or her own judgement on wether something they're given is worth reading, and I don't see the harm in that, whatever book it is. It's not drugs, porn or how to commit a crime and get away with it...so, I don't think it'll do the kids any harm.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

I honestly, truthfully don't see the problem, firstly I think darkniciad is right, which of those kids is going to read a bible handed to them anyway? And if they do, what's the harm in that?

I'd want to check anything my child was given for free outside of inside the school gates. (my little one goes to a Church Of England school, so it's very much Christian run) but I'd have no problem with people handing out whatever by the school. I know the mormons used to hang out around my secondary school, we learnt to avoid them like the plague *L* I was given mormon and Jehovah's witness material pretty often all through my teens, I'd more often than not just throw it away.

A child will make his or her own judgement on wether something they're given is worth reading, and I don't see the harm in that, whatever book it is. It's not drugs, porn or how to commit a crime and get away with it...so, I don't think it'll do the kids any harm.

but it coudl be a problem if you're not raising your kids as christians and as something else, yanno?

 

[elsol]

Is it a Catholic bible... then it's okay.

Otherwise... no..no...no!

 

[English Lady]

but it coudl be a problem if you're not raising your kids as christians and as something else, yanno?

I don't know, if I were to complain about copies of any other religious texts being handed to my daughter who I'm bringing up to be a Christian, well I am sure I'd get a whole pile of abuse for being close minded, for brainwashing her/forcing her etc. Actually, I'd not mind. It could spark some interesting conversation, andI think every child needs to make his/her own mind up in these kind of things.

I know os many people who are simply Anti Christian because they were forced into it as children.

 

[Darkniciad]

One place a bible and force-fed religion comes in handy is door to door knockers. Sit down and tell them where they're wrong pointing out and reciting scripture, and they put you on the blacklist of "no knocks" real quick after that.

Although answering the door in your boxers with 666 written on your forehead in washable marker works quicker.

I have zero use for religion, my sig used to include the line "Those who can, do. Those who can't start a religion and sponge off everyone else for the rest of their lives." But they aren't hurting anyone by handing out palm-sized copies of the New Testament, if they can even get one in their hands.

Everyone loves to talk about "slippery slopes", how is this any different? Silence the bible-beaters now, shove them off into their sanctuaries - fine.

Just don't complain when they round up people passing out pamphlets about an upcoming Iraq war protest.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

I don't know, if I were to complain about copies of any other religious texts being handed to my daughter who I'm bringing up to be a Christian, well I am sure I'd get a whole pile of abuse for being close minded, for brainwashing her/forcing her etc. Actually, I'd not mind. It could spark some interesting conversation, andI think every child needs to make his/her own mind up in these kind of things.

I know os many people who are simply Anti Christian because they were forced into it as children.

mkay, think that makess oense. ask me later, k?

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Although answering the door in your boxers with 666 written on your forehead in washable marker works quicker.st.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

[elsol]

One place a bible and force-fed religion comes in handy is door to door knockers. Sit down and tell them where they're wrong pointing out and reciting scripture, and they put you on the blacklist of "no knocks" real quick after that.

Although answering the door in your boxers with 666 written on your forehead in washable marker works quicker.

New Testament, if they can even get one in their hands.

The old school catholic way works the best for me.

"I'm Catholic... you're going to hell."

I can sell that line so well that I've had the fucker grab the door handle out of my hand and slam the door on themselves. He didn't appreciate when I opened the door back up and commented on his un-christian behavior.

It's really disturbing to me that most fundamentalists can't understand other fundamentalists... sheeez!

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.... lotsas crolling get back tot hae top

 

[Liar]

Walk up beside them and start handing out comics?

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Walk up beside them and start handing out comics?

plaaypboys

 

[S-Des]

I don't know, if I were to complain about copies of any other religious texts being handed to my daughter who I'm bringing up to be a Christian, well I am sure I'd get a whole pile of abuse for being close minded, for brainwashing her/forcing her etc. Actually, I'd not mind. It could spark some interesting conversation, andI think every child needs to make his/her own mind up in these kind of things.

I know os many people who are simply Anti Christian because they were forced into it as children.

My only issue with this is strange adults having contact with the kids. If it's very public and the kids are old enough, I don't have a problem. If this is people prostilatizing to 8-12 year old kids, it's very wrong. I don't want any adults, regardless of what they're doing, messing around with my kid in a place that they could feel intimidated.

I'm of the same religion as my ex, but if a Catholic, Muslim, or other religion handed out literature, I wouldn't be offended. I'd treat it as a chance to explain the differences to her. Even if it was an atheist (telling her that our beliefs were false), I would be all right. Kids are exposed to all kinds of crap by friends and classmates. You have to trust that they're not going to fall apart because someone hands them a song, pamphlet, or a book.

 

[Liar]

plaaypboys

Dam, you're drunbk.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Dam, you're drunbk.

noooooooooooooooshit!



wordl go spinnhy spinny apoinnnyu... heeeeeeeeee....

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

wait.... is it drubnk or drunbk? fuck... cen't remember...

 

[elsol]

Go stand by them in Hare Krishna Airport Gear...

Hari-Krishna
Hari-Krishna
Hari-Krishna
Wanna buy a flower?
Hari-Krishna

About 30 or 40 hari-krishna and they'll go away.

And if they don't, maybe they will buy a flower and you'll make a profit.

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

Go stand by them in Hare Krishna Airport Gear...

Hari-Krishna
Hari-Krishna
Hari-Krishna
Wanna buy a flower?
Hari-Krishna

About 30 or 40 hari-krishna and they'll go away.

And if they don't, maybe they will buy a flower and you'll make a profit.

i wannae flower

 

[elsol]

wait.... is it drubnk or drunbk? fuck... cen't remember...

It's krunk...

Hell yeah! *elbows flying* Hell fuck yeah!