By: Petti Fong
April 4, 2006
Page A1
B.C. mother asks trustees to reconsider distribution among pupils in 'neutral zone'
VANCOUVER -- Renate Gepraegs thought she had stepped back in time when she opened her son's public-school newsletter and read a notice from the Gideon Society about free Bibles.
"I thought schools were neutral zones," said the 36-year-old graduate student and mother of a Grade 1 pupil. "I thought schools were secular, and organized religions didn't have a place in public schools."
Ms. Gepraegs, who said she does not belong to any specific religion, appeared before Richmond school trustees last month to ask them to reconsider their policy of Bible distribution. Other parents and representatives of other religions are also challenging the practice.
For 60 years, the Gideons, a lay association of Christians, have given Bibles to Grade 5 pupils across Canada through public schools.
School superintendent Bruce Beairsto said the board began to rethink the issue of distributing Bibles to every Grade 5 student in the district in the 1960s, when Richmond began to become a more diverse and multicultural community. Now, nearly 60 per cent of Richmond residents are of Chinese or South Asian descent.
The Richmond board's policy is to place a notice in school newsletters, and Grade 5 pupils may take a form home for their parents to sign if they want a Gideon Bible. The children return the form to the school, which relays the request to the Gideons, who bring the Bibles to the schools.
The Gideons no longer automatically bring Bibles to schools across the country every year, but wait for requests. Every year, each of the 38 elementary schools in Richmond receives one or two requests for Bibles, Mr. Beairsto said.
"We don't proselytize, of course. This is a vexing issue that we've wrestled with as to what multiculturalism means," Mr. Beairsto said. "If someone wanted to distribute the Koran the same way, we would be quite happy to do it in an equitable way."
Mr. Beairsto said some school trustees raised concerns at the meeting Ms. Gepraegs attended about what would happen if a less mainstream religion, such as the Wiccans, also requested that their materials be distributed.
"If one of those odd things come up, we will talk to our parent groups and try to share a collective wisdom," he said yesterday.
Richmond parent Abdullah Ali, who has a daughter in Grade 9, attended the school board meeting with Ms. Gepraegs in March. It's not appropriate, said Mr. Ali, who is Muslim, for anyone in the school to hand out religious books.
"The better process would be if these books can be placed in the library and any child who wants a copy can get one," Mr. Ali said. "I'm not knocking the policy, but I am saying it has to be inclusive and provide an equal playing field for everyone."
Because the board is not backing off its policy, Mr. Ali said he's securing a supply of Korans for distribution to students who request them.
Neither the Surrey nor the Vancouver school boards distribute Gideon Bibles to students.
The issue has divided school boards across the country. The Ottawa-Carleton school board stopped distributing Bibles in 2001, but last year the Gideons organization asked it to reconsider.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued a Missouri school district last month for allowing Gideons to distribute Bibles. The school board there had voted 4-3 in favour of allowing the practice to continue after parents raised concerns.
The Gideons distribute more than 60 million Bibles worldwide each year to hospitals, hotels, prisons and schools.
Executive director Paul Mercer of Gideons International in Canada said that throughout Canada, 250,000 to 300,000 Bibles a year are requested by students. Years ago, schools and the Gideons decided Grade 5 was the appropriate age to receive the Bible, he said.
"It's been done since the mid-1940s, and the offer is made. Some can say no and some can say, 'we want one,' " Mr. Mercer said. "We just simply believe that everybody should have the opportunity of owning a Bible."
Canadian Jewish Congress Pacific region chairman Mark Weintraub said school boards have a legal obligation to not distribute the Bibles.
"We are certainly not against any religious denomination disseminating sacred texts," Mr. Weintraub said. "But in a society that supports a public school system and has people of many faiths and children from families that do not believe in any particular faith, it's vital the school system not be the vehicle for any particular denomination."
B.C. Civil Liberties president Jason Gratl said he was surprised to learn that Bibles are still being distributed.
"It carries no threat of undermining the secularism of our school system, but it's a practice that ought to be quietly ended," he said yesterday.
Rev. Gary Simpson of the Broadway Church in Chilliwack, which has Gideons among its members, said when he was in Grade 5 in the late 1960s, Bibles were automatically distributed, requested or not.
"Obviously, the Gideons are interested in conversion, otherwise they wouldn't be doing this. They hope the Bible can help kids in need and they believe God can change someone's life," Mr. Simpson said.
"But I'm not sure it's right to do it in a public school system. I would be willing to shut the whole supply off, if it means our kids are going to be bombarded with 50 options. My Bible doesn't need to be out there if that's the case."
