After FFRF complained, Wichita Public Schools is taking steps to ensure no further inappropriate bible distributions will happen on its grounds.
On Nov. 1, 2015, several members of the Gideons, a Christian men’s group, handed out bibles to East High School students as they got off their buses. “The district may not allow Gideons, or any other religious groups, to enter school property to distribute religious literature,” wrote Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel in a Dec. 3 letter. “In allowing Gideons to distribute bibles to students, the district is impermissibly endorsing religion by placing its ‘stamp of approval’ on the religious messages contained in the bible.”
Seidel acknowledged that the district may have had no prior knowledge of the distribution because Gideons “operate by deliberately avoiding superintendents and school boards. They advise their members to seek permission at the lowest level of authority.” In a response on Jan. 22, the district’s attorney said that this was the case, and acknowledged that “neutrality commands that the Gideons not be permitted to distribute bibles on school property.”
