LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Wilson County schools have agreed to end the distribution of Bibles to students during the school day and on school grounds.
The settlement came after the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee threatened to sue on behalf of a fifth-grade student at Carroll-Oakland Elementary School. A Tuesday news release announcing the settlement claims the student took a Bible during a distribution in the school's gym because she feared being ostracized if she did not.
In the settlement, school board members acknowledge that distribution of Bibles to students at school has been recognized as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The "Establishment Clause" of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads as follows:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
Siimply getting school board members to "acknowledge that distribution of Bibles to students at school has been recognized as a violation of the Establishment Clause" doesn't necessarily make it true.
The same founders who wrote and ratified the U.S. Constitution didn't have a problem with the Bible being used in public schools.
Benjamin Rush: A Defense of the Use of the Bible in Public Schools
Benjamin Franklin: insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern.
James Madison: In 1812, President Madison signed a federal bill which economically aided the Bible Society of Philadelphia in its goal of the mass distribution of the Bible.
“ An Act for the relief of the Bible Society of Philadelphia” Approved February 2, 1813 by Congress
Is there any chance that those who now believe that it violates the Establishment Clause to distribute bibles could be mistaken?
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