In a very important ruling, a Federal district court in Missouri has ruled that allowing the Gideons to come into elementary schools and distribute Bibles to students is a violation of the establishment clause .... This is a key ruling that could be replicated nationwide, where many schools still allow the Gideons to go into schools and do this. The ruling was by summary judgment.
Ed Brayton has the story and the details here.
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An elementary school in Missouri has been allowing the Gideons to distribute bibles to students on their lunch hour. It's crazy stupid, a clear violation of the separation of church and state (not that fundie churches care about that anymore). Fortunately, Americans United is on the ball.
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The way to put a stop to this is to send someone into one of the school districts that does this to distribute one of the atheism books as well. Bet that practice with the Gideons would end pretty fast when someone made an argument that they should be allowed to hand out "The God Delusion" simultaneously.
Maybe the Richard Dawkins Foundation should focus its efforts on putting one copy of The God Delusion into every motel room.
You really must wonder what desperate state the public schools are in in some areas of the US if they actually allowed the Gideons in anywhere, except whorehouses in Vegas....very sad....and where are those courageous teachers in those districts to take a stand against that? I suppose they are so used to bringing in Cops and other fascist government elements to entertain and amuse the kids( rather than educating them) that they have lost all sense of boundaries pertaining to who is and ISN'T a good influence on kids.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am-Qdx6vky0