Last March I read a very interesting letter to the editor in the Press-Telegram entitled “Bible distribution assailed,” by Wendy Salaya. The letter spawned several response letters and calls to the P-T Speakout line and also related directly to an article, published on the same day, in The District Weekly entitled: “Is that a Bible in your hand or are you just happy to see our kids?” by Jeanine Birong. That article can be read here. I encourage my readers to review that article before proceeding.
The letter and the article referred to the same issue: A group called “The Gideons International” has a stated mission, as quoted from their website: “to win the lost for Christ, and (their) unique method is the distribution of Scripture in selected streams of life.” They accomplish this mission primarily by placing bibles in hotel and motel rooms and by offering copies of the bible excerpts in public venues, to military service people, V.A. patients, the incarcerated and others.
The recent difficulty, in the case of The Gideons, has to do with the reported presence of some of their members on the public sidewalk adjacent to at least two schools in the LBUSD system (Rogers Middle and Lakewood High Schools) and offering copies of the bible to students entering or leaving school grounds.
Both writers took great exception to this activity. Ms. Birong called the School Office, as well as the School district and the City but feels she got nothing but a run-around.
But is that really what she received? I don’t think it was. Ms. Birong actually received the best and, indeed, most accurate, answer from the School District, who told her that the activity she had described was protected under the 1st Amendment. That answer was correct. Ms. Birong just didn’t like it. So she did some research and then authored a well-written article in the District Weekly describing her concerns.
The Courts have ruled, time and time again, that the public sidewalk – even that adjacent to our schools – is a “public forum” for the purpose of the “speech clause” of the 1st Amendment and, thus, otherwise lawful solicitations, such as these, must be permitted. Is handing out bibles an “otherwise lawful solicitation”? I believe so, since bibles are lawful to possess, distribute and sell (unlike say, drugs) and since no one (minor or adult) need accept a bible thus offered.
We teach our kids to not take anything, whatever it is, handed to them by a stranger, wherever they encounter one. Laws exist that prohibit assault (PC 240) and the annoyance of minors {PC 647.6(a)(1)}. If the Gideons in question were assaulting or annoying our children then they should have been arrested and prosecuted for doing so. But, as far as I can tell, Ms. Birong didn’t allege either of these crimes when she made her calls.
The City does have a few local ordinances that govern free speech-related activities conducted in public places. But they are primarily concerned with assuring that those exercising their free speech rights do not disturb the peace (by making too much noise, for example) or block access to or movement upon public areas, like the sidewalk. If the Gideons were blocking the sidewalk, they should have been issued a citation for doing so and then required to move. But, as far as I can tell, Ms. Birong didn’t allege this infraction when she made her calls.
The City does issue Permits for certain activities conducted on public property or in public view. Permits for everything from the aforementioned Farmer’s Markets, movie and TV filming and even yard sales are common and issued frequently. But according to the City Special Events and Filming Bureau activities like those conducted by the Gideon’s are actually quite common and, as the School District rightly assessed, protected by the 1st Amendment, so the City does not issue permits for – meaning it does not attempt to restrict or otherwise control – those activities as long as they are otherwise being conducted in a lawful manner. And it seems, at least from Ms. Birong’s account, as if they are, in fact, being conducted lawfully. Ms. Birong and others just don’t happen to like it.
Ms. Birong makes it clear that she is concerned for the safety of her child. To quote from her article: “I am not convinced that just because people are handing out Bibles that they are not a safety risk. One only needs to Google “priest + pedophile” or “David Koresh” to find plenty of stories about Bible-touting bad guys. It’s not too much to ask that the city require background checks on these individuals”.
Actually, I think it *is* too much to ask. Whether or not we agree with the content of the book they are offering to passers-by, the Gideons are private citizens conducting a Constitutionally protected activity in a public place and in a lawful manner. What business would the City or any other government entity have in requiring “background checks” of such individuals?
The simple answer is “no business whatsoever”. To ask such a thing of government in this case is to unnecessarily violate personal freedom and improperly erode individual liberty.
Are the Gideons to be painted with the same brush as pedophile priests or David Koresh? Have they done anything that would lead a reasonable person to believe that they may have conducted themselves inappropriately toward anyone, adult or minor, at any time? Are they to be convicted and sentenced without a charge being filed or a trial being held?
What is the difference between offering bibles on the sidewalk or copies of the Qur’an at the Farmer’s Market? What is the difference between offering bibles on the sidewalk or copies of a local newspaper? I submit that the only true difference is the content.
And that, it seems, is the true source of the objection many have to the Gideons. Many who object simply don’t want copies of the bible offered in public places.
Some parents see people offering bibles on the sidewalk in front of their child’s school and loudly object, but then allow their child to enter that very same school where just a few moments later those same students, in some cases of any age, can excuse themselves from campus for certain confidential medical care or counseling. The school must, by law, excuse them for these purposes, and cannot, by law, obtain parental permission or, indeed, even notify the parents that their children have been thus excused.
Some parents will raise the roof because someone in a public place is politely offering a bible to their children but remain strangely silent when their School Districts blatantly squander public funds and fail to deliver a quality education to their children.
Some parents will loudly protest the former in both cases but never say word one about the latter. This seems exceedingly strange to me.
Parents are right to be concerned for the safety of their children. My wife and I certainly are. But I submit that we can best assure their safety by preparing them to know how to respond if they are approached by a stranger or offered an item from such a person. We can teach our children to avoid such people and we can teach them to politely but firmly decline to accept anything a stranger might offer.
If our children are annoyed or assaulted we can teach them to defend themselves and then to report it immediately so that such a violator can be prosecuted.
What we should *not* do is teach our children to fear unnecessarily. We should *not* teach our children to close their minds or to avoid engaging others in free and open discussions about ideas or ideologies. The Gideons do not appear to be forcing anyone to accept either their bibles or their beliefs. They do not appear to be preventing anyone from freely passing them by on the sidewalk.
So perhaps we should worry a lot more about what is and isn’t going on *inside* of our schools and a lot less about what’s happening on the sidewalks out front.
I very much welcome your questions and your comments.