Gideons International Organization made known here today that it will appeal to the United States Supreme Court to set aside the recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling banning free distribution of the King James version Bibles to school children.
A statement issued by Gideons headquarters said the organization believed in the constitutional principle of separation of Church and State but felt the New Jersey court incorrectly interpreted the constitution by barring school children from receiving Bibles “with consent of parents.”
It was said that a 1950 ruling later affirmed by the New Jersey Supreme Court held that New Testament Bibles could not be considered sectarian books. The new 1953 ruling maintains that a New Testament Bible is a sectarian book. Jewish organizations and other groups concerned with separation of Church and State hailed the New Jersey decision as a re-affirmation of traditional civil liberties.
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