Richard Ajabu complained to the board last week after his daughter, who attends Sardis elementary, brought home a permission form to receive a free Bible at school from Gideons International, an evangelical Protestant association that has handed out free Bibles to Canadian Grade 5 public school students since 1946.
Ajabu was surprised to find out there was a local regulation in place that endorses the Gideons’ activity in the Chilliwack district.
“The Board approves the distribution of Gideon Youth Testaments to Grade 5 pupils with parental consent,” states administrative regulation 518.
At Ajabu’s urging, the school board revisited the policy earlier this week in a closed-door meeting… but they decided to keep it in place.
It was a foolish decision on their part. Even the local paper explained the problem with promoting Christian mythology over that of other belief systems:

At Ajabu’s urging, the school board revisited the policy earlier this week in a closed-door meeting… but they decided to keep it in place.

It was a foolish decision on their part. Even the local paper explained the problem with promoting Christian mythology over that of other belief systems:

But the school district should not allow religions to use school time and property to promote their beliefs.

The alternative is chaos and conflict. A school district that allows the distribution of Bibles must allow other religions to hand out their own holy books.

That’s fine in theory. Let Muslims hand out the Koran. Let Hindus give out the Vedas. Let Sikhs distribute the Guru Granth Sahib.

But where do you draw the line? Do you allow Scientologists to hand out the writings of L. Ron Hubbard? What about Christian groups that favour different forms of the Bible?

The answer is simple: leave the distribution of religious materials to other institutions.

That’s all well and good but the story doesn’t end there.

Because Ajabu’s last name is ethnic-sounding, he’s been getting a lot of awful comments thrown his way in the local paper.