The Liberty Counsel public interest law firm issued a press release today about Roark v. South Iron R-1 School District, which has gone up on appeal from a hostile District Court ruling that would prohibit the distribution of Bibles from a stationary table to voluntary recipients.
St. Louis, MO – Today, a three-member panel of the federal court of appeals enters the fray in a case arising out of the distribution of Gideon Bibles to school children. Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, is presenting oral argument on behalf of the South Iron School District (“District”) and its equal access policy, in the case of Roark v. South Iron R-1 School District.
The District policy permits outside groups to distribute literature from a stationary table, irrespective of whether the literature is secular or religious. Under this policy, an outside group may offer Bibles to students who wish to take them in the same manner as other nonreligious groups are permitted to distribute secular literature.
In September 2006, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the District to stop the Gideons from providing Bibles to public school students. Federal district Judge Catherine Perry issued an order prohibiting the distribution of any Bible, which she derisively described as an “instrument of religion.”
The District then adopted a written equal access policy that treats the distribution of secular and religious literature outside of class on an equal basis. Outside groups may apply to distribute literature from stationary tables in two designated locations. The literature cannot be distributed in the classroom, nor can school officials be involved.
Judge Perry also ruled the District’s equal access policy unConstitutional, saying that under the content-neutral policy it is possible that the Bible could be distributed, and that, she said, would be unconstitutional. The ruling presented a novel (and unConstitutional) theory that a private third party (like the ACLU) must have the opportunity to veto the distribution request of the private applicant. The veto power, the judge wrote, must be provided to veto religious, but not secular, literature.
Matt Staver commented on today’s hearing: “The Bible cannot be singled out for special penalties like contraband. How ironic that in America, until recent times, the Bible formed the basis of education, and now its mere presence is radioactive in the opinion of some judges.
The Founders never envisioned such open hostility toward the Christian religion as we see today in some venues. To single out the Bible alone for discriminatory treatment harkens back to the Dark Ages. America deserves better. Our Constitution should be respected, not disregarded.
Audio of the oral argument will be made available on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals website at http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/oralargs/oaFrame.html, and there will be abundant links from Liberty Counsel's website at http://www.lc.org/.
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