Advertisement Tri-State Freethinkers hand out books on atheism, off school property Group passes out book in response to Gideons International plan to pass out Bibles at same time Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Boone County Schools are officially out for the school year but a few high school students left with some unique summer reading.Tuesday afternoon, after school dismissal, Tri-State Freethinkers handed out a book called "The Young Atheist's Survival Guide."Watch this story | View photos from the handoutThe book was passed out at all four Boone County High Schools, including Boone County High School in Florence, Conner High School in Hebron, Cooper High School in Union and Ryle High School in Union.Freethinkers spokesperson Tony Arnold said the group decided to pass out the book in response to a Gideons International plan to pass out Bibles at the same time."We're not here to debate with anybody, it's not an us against religion issue, it's us showing administration that they can't allow one organization to have favor over the other," Arnold said.Boone County Schools Community Relations Coordinator Barbara Cain-Brady told WLWT News 5, Gideons International made a request to the school board to distribute the Bibles. That request was granted as long as it was off school property."The federal courts ruled it unconstitutional for any group to be prohibited to distribute any of their materials off of school campuses," Cain-Brady said.But the Gideons never showed up.WLWT contacted Gideons International for a response but did not hear back.Turner Westfall, a junior at Boone County High School, is one of the students who grabbed a book from The Tri-State Freethinkers.He said it makes sense to give teenagers more choices."Most people believe in something different so I believe that the choice of it makes it feel better because someone might go towards Egyptology or Scientology and they have the choice to do that whether they want to or not," Westfall said.The Tri-State Freethinkers had 200 books to hand out at Boone County high schools, Arnold said they passed out about 80.