A North Carolina Pagan, Ginger Strivelli, is challenging her son’s school on allowing the distribution of Bibles, something the school said is perfectly acceptable since they didn’t actively hand them out.
"Oh look, a Bible, you shouldn't have."
“Jackie Byerly, principal at North Windy Ridge, defended the availability of the Bibles. She said they were not handed out, and students had the option to take them. She checked with Superintendent Tony Baldwin and was given permission to make them available. She said the Bibles arrived Monday morning from a local group of Gideons International, and the box containing the books was opened in the main office. Byerly said the students picked them up during their break time. “If another group wishes to do the same, I plan on handling that the same way as I have handled this,” she said.”
But Strivelli’s son said that the “break time” was constructed especially for picking up a Bible, that all the students went, and that copies were distributed to the children by a teacher. Strivelli called the incident “totally inappropriate” while local Pagan leader (and blogger) Byron Ballard called the distribution “problematic,” and “potentially illegal.”
“Byron Ballard, an active Pagan in Asheville and freedom of religion advocate, said the situation is “terribly inappropriate.” She said she plans to contact the school system’s legal department and the local American Civil Liberties Union.”
Now, Strivelli plans to see if Jackie Byerly is true to her word and will handle the distribution of other religious material in the same fashion, of if the Christian Bible will be privileged in a public school.
“I have 2 lovely Pagan Authors already promising me copies of their books…and I need to contact the Editor who used my Chapter in her book, surely she can chip in some for my work on that book for her….and dropping all those and more off Jan 3rd I hope..but asap for sure…WE WILL SEE how equally they ‘make them available’.”
Longtime readers of this blog may remember that a similar test was given to another school district in North Carolina, and they didn’t exactly pass with flying colors.
The Brunswick County Board of Education in North Carolina.
“Way back in 2006, the Brunswick County Board of Education in North Carolina was on track to approve a controversial and vaguely-worded policy that would allow for the distribution of religious materials on school grounds. Legal threats didn’t seem to faze them until Llewellyn Worldwide offered to distribute free books on Wicca and Paganism to school children. Faster than you could say “Galloping Gideons”, the Brunswick board backed down from their plan, and someone fortuitously caught that delicious moment in a photo.”
Is Buncombe County ready for its “Pagan moment,” or will they blink the face of true equal treatment?