These passionately unbiased, Christian-respecting journalists, despite a majority support for Bible distribution by the school trustees, could not find a single supportive person to interview except a Gideon rep. In other words, they are trying to send the unstated message to their readers that the trustees do not represent the public. But there was nobody there, the reporter might say. What happened to your bicycle? Journalists will dig to China to find an invisible person to interview if trying to butress the favoured side of an argument. The anti-Christian spin on this article is transparent. They were even able to find a Lutheran and a Jew to condemn the Bible distribution. Isn’t that special…

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Waterloo Region Record – November 30, 2010
School trustees approve free Bibles: Gideons’ distribution plan faces growing opposition
By Luisa D’Amato

Public school trustees agreed by six votes to four Monday to have schools distribute free copies of the New Testament to Grade 5 students from Gideons International. But they made that decision in the face of a growing tide of opposition to the decades-old practice. Pastors, parents and representatives from a wide range of faith groups – Lutheran to Jewish, and Mormon to Muslim – spoke out Monday against the practice and against the way the board has handled it. Some said it violates the board’s own policies because the permission form is sometimes written on school stationery, and teachers distribute the Bibles during school hours. Others said these Bibles are used to proselytize, rather than just being used for information.

The Gideons, a worldwide evangelical Christian organization that distributes millions of Bibles, has for decades used Waterloo Region public schools as a distribution centre to give families of Grade 5 students copies of the New Testament, plus the Hebrew Bible books of Psalms and Proverbs. The Bibles are sent only to families who indicate on a permission slip that they would like one. But part of the material that’s sent home with the Bible invites the reader to “ask God to open your mind … to reveal to you Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord,” Kimberley Williams told trustees. “This clearly is proselytizing,” she said.

Lutheran pastor Rick Pryce told trustees that “we need to change course” and stop the practice of Bible distribution. “We can no longer assume that everyone believes what we believe,” he told trustees. “Those days are long gone, and that’s OK.”

Catherine Fife, a Waterloo trustee, said she strongly believes that the policy of allowing Bibles to be sent home through the schools causes harm. Because the permission slip comes home from school, “it has weight,” she said. This has worsened the relationship between teachers and some families who have felt upset by the suggestion they might want a Bible. “By distributing religious materials, we are risking alienating our most important partners,” Fife said.

Fife, along with Waterloo trustee Kathleen Woodcock and Kitchener trustees Kathi Smith and Ted Martin, voted against sending the Bibles home. But they were overruled by the votes of six other trustees: Cindy Watson, Andrea Mitchell and Colin Harrington from Cambridge; Mike Ramsay of Kitchener; John Hendry of Waterloo; and Harold Paisley of Woolwich and Wellesley townships. Kitchener trustee Pat Adamson was absent from Monday’s meeting.

Fife said she will be introducing a motion at a future meeting that a legal review be done of the board’s current policy. That policy allows religious materials to be sent home to students if they are reviewed by the board each year to make sure they are not used to proselytize and don’t denigrate anyone who is protected by the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Yet “we have never done a review of this material,” said Kitchener trustee Martin.

Trustee Smith suggested that this might be the last year the Bibles are distributed this way. “We’re going to have to take a really close look at this policy,” she said. “It clearly does not fit with the tenor of what we’re trying to do.” And trustee Woodcock said it wasn’t the job of public schools to get involved with non-instructional religious material. “Our business is education in the classroom,” she said. “We spend a lot of time on this and it seems to be a very interesting way to be spending taxpayers’ money.”

Student trustee Brett Crowley, a student at Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School and a non-voting member of the board of trustees, agreed. “Why do the Gideons need to go through the school board?” he said.

Fauzia Mazhar, a parent, was critical of the board’s approach to the issue. Even though objections were raised last year to distributing the Bibles, “the board did not even try to consult the community before deciding to continue this tradition,” she said.

Only one person member of the public defended the practice on Monday night; Art Wagensveld of the local Gideon organization. He reminded trustees that Bible sayings are “etched in stone on the Parliament buildings.” And in courtrooms, witnesses are offered to swear on the Bible that they will speak truthfully. “To offer such a book, that has historical, literary and cultural value, … should be viewed as a commendable action,” he said.

Bob Chodos, a lay leader at the Reform Jewish Temple Shalom congregation, said he doesn’t think the board’s policy is equitable. It’s true that any faith group has the right to ask the school board to distribute religious material, but not all faith traditions believe in evangelizing to others, he said.