By: Lauren Kramer
CJC objects to Bibles being distributed to students
VANCOUVER — Canadian Jewish Congress has added its voice to parents’ objections that the Gideon Society’s distribution of Christian Bibles to students in a Vancouver-area public school system is inappropriate. The Gideon Society, a lay association of Christians, has offered free Bibles to Grade 5 students across Canada since the 1940s, and in the Richmond School District since at least the 1960s.
But last month, a handful of parents objected to Richmond’s school trustees, saying the distribution of the Bibles is inappropriate in a school system populated by children of many religions and denominations. Typically, 50 students in the district’s 38 elementary schools request a Bible in any given year, while the rest pass on the offer, said Richmond School District superintendent Bruce Beairsto.
In an interview with the Richmond Review, school board chair Linda McPhail said the Bibles are not handed out to students. Parents who want their children to receive one must fill out a form that the board includes in newsletters, and return it to their child’s school.
She added that most e-mails she’s received on the issue support the practice.
Nevertheless, CJC is against it.
“We don’t see that there’s any benefit in not communicating a very firm boundary when it comes to the public school system and the ability of certain denominations to effectively proselytize,” said Mark Weintraub, chair of Canadian Jewish Congress’ Pacific region. “A position which is not firm will encourage the most aggressive religions to promote their particular sacred texts.”
But Beairsto insisted that the Gideon Society’s offer to distribute free Bibles is no big deal.
“I don’t believe anyone here is passionately wedded to the idea of distributing Bibles through the school district, but we just didn’t see any reason to oppose it,” he said. “The practice is long-standing and has not previously been raised as contentious.”
“We have no particular axe to grind or position to defend, but at this time, our best judgment about how to live our inclusive ideals suggests that past practice is acceptable and there’s no compelling reason to change it,” he added. “That is not to say that we will not do so in the future, but to be honest, there are far more urgent challenges vying for our attention.”
Beairsto said that if other religions come forward and wish to offer students their respective holy books, he would welcome it.
One Muslim parent in Richmond, Abdullah Ali, is reportedly doing just that – he is obtaining Qur’ans to distribute to students who request them.
But Weintraub said that unless they’re being used as part of the curriculum, religious texts only belong in a public school’s library.
“We’re totally opposed to an ad hoc process of disseminating information of religious teachings other than in an academic framework,” he says. “It must be part of an overall teaching curriculum, and must not be left to those groups – be they Buddhist, Zoroastrian or anything else – to create an advantage of one faith over another in the public school system.” “If the library of this school should house the world’s collection of sacred texts, we’d be supportive of that, but it must be undertaken in a spirit of academic and objective pursuit of knowledge, and without any underlying proselytizing motivation.”
Each year, the Gideons distribute more than 63 million Bibles to schools, hotels, hospitals and prisons worldwide, its website says.
Other Vancouver-area boards do not allow the Gideons to distribute Bibles to students.
Beairsto said the Richmond school board does not promote any particular faith.
“We try to be accepting of everyone. For example, we provide rooms for Muslim students to pray, we sing songs from all traditions in December, and so on,” he said.
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