Anger as schools ban Gideon Bibles to avoid upsetting other faiths



Schools have banned Christians from handing out Bibles to avoid angering other faiths.

The Gideons have become famed for handing out signature red Bibles to young children during school assemblies.

But they have been told to stay away from some classes because it may spark complaints from different faiths.

Abbot Beyne School and Paget High School near Burton On Trent in Staffordshire have made the controversial ban.

Banned: Schools have stopped allowing the Gideons to hand out Bibles

Maggie Tate, deputy head teacher of Abbot Beyne, said: 'The reason we stopped the Gideons coming in is that we are a comprehensive multi-faith school. We felt it was inappropriate to allow one faith group to distribute material in school.'

She said all pupils at Abbot Beyne, Winshill were given moral-themed assemblies and that the school had the highest proportion of pupils in Staffordshire sitting GCSEs in religious education.

Headteacher at Paget High School in Branston, Don Smith, also cited multiculturalism as the reason behind the decision to abolish the tradition.

He said: 'As a non-denominational school, we do not allow any religious groups to come in and give out literature. If we allowed the Gideons into school then we would have to allow other groups too.

Abbot Beyne school in Winshill says handing out Bibles is 'inappropriate'

'While we teach pupils about different religions, we do not want people coming in to the school and pushing their own religious views.'



CALLS FOR LORDS' PRAYERS TO BE DITCHED

Peers have urged the House of Lords to broaden the prayers said at the start of each session. Humanists and other religions should also be taken into account, according to some in the chamber. The House's bishops currently take it in turns to lead almost five minutes of prayers based on the Book of Common prayer before the start of business. Lord Roberts questions whether different faiths and denominations should now be recognised, while Lord Hughes of Woodside suggested prayers were scrapped altogether. But Rt Rev john Packer, the Bishop of Ripon pointed out attendance at prayers was 'voluntary' and described them as 'simple, eternal and unifying'. He also reminded that any plans to change them would have to be agreed by the House.

John Taylor School, in Barton Under Needwood, Staffordshire, has also banned the Gideons.

However, principal Mike Donoghue, saidthey no longer came into his school for 'logistical', rather than 'philosophical' reasons.

He said that, as the school no longer held whole-year assemblies, it was not possible to isolate the first-year pupils for them to be given Bibles.

Mr Donoghue said: 'At the moment it is a logistical rather than a philosophical problem. We would be more than happy to talk to the Gideons in the future.'



The decision has caused outrage among Christians, who have accused the schools of trying to silence Christianity.

Gideons supporter Barry Martin said: 'We live in a Christian country. I think that if the Gideons want to offer Bibles to children then they should be allowed to do so.



'Banning them is not right because these schools are trying to silence Christianity and we must fight to defend it. Christians make this world a better place.'

