| Bible Finally Allowed in Florida School |
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| Thursday, 02 September 2010 16:28 | ||||||||||||
 A controversy erupted when a school board in Collier County, Florida banned a Christian organization from distributing free Bibles to interested students during non-instructional time. The school board argued that it was unconstitutional. But after a lawsuit was brought against them, the school board reversed their position.
Bibles and other religious materials can’t be banned from distribution as long as non-religious literature is allowed to be handed out. Public schools don’t have the right or obligation to shut down religious activity when it occurs during non-instructional time and is voluntary.
The Supreme Court has ruled, in the landmark case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, that students don’t lose their constitutional rights when they enter school grounds or participate in school activities. Schools are not religion-free zones and any attempt to make them so is unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court remarked on this issue, saying that neither "students [nor] teachers shed their constitutional rights . . . at the schoolhouse gate" (393 U.S. 506 (1969)). The Court argued that their expressions cannot be limited to a certain forum during school. Therefore when a student "is in the cafeteria, or on the playing field, or on the campus during the authorized hours, he may express his opinions..." (393 U.S. 512 (1969)). And because the First Amendment protects the right to religious freedom of expression, students are therefore allowed to express these views.
The Constitutional and Federal rights of students can be simply broken down as the:
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