The distribution of Gideon bibles in the Orange County public schools was banned here this weekend by the State District Court of Appeal. The court ruled that such distribution violated the Federal and state constitutions and was in sharp conflict with the doctrine of separation of Church and State.
The decision upheld the right of nine taxpayers and parents of schoolchildren to go to court for relief against distribution of the bibles. A lower court had dismissed a suit by the plaintiffs against the county school board, which sought to stop what they termed a violation of “the teachings and tenets” of their faith.
The appellate court ruling stated that if the Gideon group had distributed the “Koran, the Moslem bible, or the Talmud, the body of Jewish civil and canonical law, through the school system of an area whose inhabitants were strongly Protestant, we surmise that the Protestant groups would feel a sectarian resentment against the action of school authorities.”
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