The threat of a federal lawsuit was enough to get Wilson County Schools to stop allowing the distribution of Bibles on school property. An agreement reached with the ACLU of Tennessee was released Tuesday.
The settlement ends a practice of allowing The Gideons International to hand out Bibles at Carroll-Oakland and Lakeview Elementary schools. The plaintiffs have a fifth grader who said she felt pressured to take one of the New Testaments even though she was told she didn’t have to.
ACLU attorney Edmund Schmidt says “decisions about religion should be left in the hands of families and faith communities, not public school officials.”
A signed legal agreement between Wilson County Schools, the ACLU and the un-named family recognizes that the practice of handing out Bibles during school hours is a 1st Amendment violation. In the settlement, the school system also agrees to pay $5,000 for the ACLU’s legal fees.
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