ACLU Sues Idaho School System for Distributing Bibles to Students
Giving Bibles to a public school class violated the constitutional separation of church and state, the American Civil Liberties Union alleges in a lawsuit against a school system.
Carolyn Hill, a parent named in the suit, contends that Alan Joshua’s constitutional rights were violated March 4 when he and 34 fifth-grade classmates were given Bibles at Paris Elementary School in the southeastern Idaho town of Paris.
The ACLU suit was the second one it has filed in the state involving Bible distribution at a public school.
In the earlier lawsuit, Jerome School District officials agreed in 1984 not to allow the distribution of Bibles on public school property.
Defendants in the latest suit are the Bear Lake County School District, the school superintendent, the Paris Elementary principal and Joshua’s teacher.
The suit alleges that two unidentified men, not affiliated with the school, distributed the Bibles, and one of them told students, “If you abide by this Bible, you will grow to be a better person,” said Steven Pevar, the ACLU regional counsel who filed the suit this week.
The suit seeks a court order barring the district from allowing distribution of religious literature to students unless it is part of secular instruction, Pevar said.
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