Bibles have been banned from being distributed in some Canadian schools after an atheist complained. ( Arvind Balarman/Free Digital Photos )

Schools in a region of Canada have been forced to change their policies on distributing Gideon Bibles following a challenge by an atheist.

Rene Chouinard took his case to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario after he complained about Bibles being handed out at his daughter’s school.

Chouinard said it was biased for his primary-school-aged daughter to be offered religious literature, after he received a permission slip for her to be given a Bible.

Chouinard was then denied requests for atheist material to be distributed by the school.

David Wright, associate chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, found in his decision that allowing only the Gideons to distribute literature in Niagara schools was discriminatory.

He ruled that schools in the Niagara area could only hand out Gideon Bibles if they develop a new policy that would allow the distribution of atheist material.

Mr. Wright said that if the school board “is prepared to distribute permission forms proposing the distribution of Christian texts to committed atheists, it must also be prepared to distribute permission forms proposing the distribution of atheist texts to religious Christians.”

He added, “It cannot design its criteria in a way that would permit communication of materials setting out their beliefs by some but not all creeds.”

Mr. Chouinard said, when he was granted the hearing in the first instance, that he would like to see “religion completely removed from the classroom.”

Gideons International has been distributing Bibles to students in Canadian public schools since 1936.

Get Charisma's best content delivered right to your inbox! Never miss a big news story again. Click here to subscribe to the Charisma News newsletter.

Great End of Summer Deals from CHARISMA:

#1 End of Summer 50% Off Sale: Click Here for Books Click Here for Health Click Here for Bibles

#2 CHARISMA'S Best Book Bundles: Click Here to view all our bundles and save up to 72%!

#3 Limited Time Offer: Enroll in a FREE eCourse from CHARISMA. Click Here to view all available courses.

Summer Subscription Offer: Subscribe to Charisma for Only $24.95 and get Thomas Horn's newest book, The Wormwood Prophecy, free! View Offer

See an error in this article? Send us a correction