Wisconsin city’s school buses are now Gideon-free (July 3, 2013)

A complaint by the Freedom From Religion Foundation ensured men from the Gideon Society will no longer force their bibles on school children riding the bus.

A bus driver for Medford Are Middle School in Medford, Wis. made an unauthorized stop to allow a member of the Gideons onboard to hand out bibles to the middle school students. The Gideons are a group of evangelical Christian men intent on delivering bibles to unsuspecting young students in public schools.

A concerned parent of one of the students on the bus reached out to FFRF. FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott contacted District Administrator Pat Sullivan in a May 16 letter, informing him courts have ruled that allowing Gideons access to the students is improper.

"The distribution was particularly disturbing because a school bus was commandeered for the purposed of pushing bibles on a captive audience of students," Elliott said.

Sullivan responded on July 3 that Elliott's letter had been sent to the company responsible for the school's bus service. Sullivan also asked the bus service company to "please make sure that this type of activity does not happen in the future."