A federal judge threw out a lawsuit this week from an atheist group angered over not being able to give uncensored pornographic material to students when Bibles were given out without censorship.
Senior Judge Kendall Sharpe said he threw out the lawsuit because of a change in school policy that allowed the atheists to eventually distribute their book “An X-Rated Sex Book: Sex & Obscenity In The Bible.”
The school had been permitting World Changers of Florida to deliver Bibles to students without interference or censorship when the atheists discovered the program and launched a series of complaints. The radically hostile anti-Christian group Freedom From Religion Foundation backed the atheist group.
The Central Florida Freethought Community says they plan to flood schools with more anti-Christian publications as a result of the court ruling.
The anti-Christian groups said despite the dismissal, the situation was a win for advancing the cause of removing Christians from society.
The Brazilian Bible Society says they will be handing out more Bibles at the World Cup than the population of 23 of the 50 U.S. states.
Leaders of the BBS say that they have four million Bibles that will be handed out to competitors, officials and attendees at the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament.
“Brazilians are football-mad and their obsession with football will reach fever pitch over the next few weeks,” said Dr. Rudi Zimmer of the Bible Society of Brazil, reports the United Bible Societies. “We want the Bible to have a prominent presence amid all the excitement. It’s an unprecedented opportunity for churches and Christians here to share God’s Word with local and foreign fans, and we want to equip and encourage them to do that.”
In addition to the Bibles, over 20,000 copies of the Gospel of John will be handed out in Portuguese and eight other languages.
Over 1,600 churches have joined together as part of the outreach effort in what is called the “Fair Play Brazil” outreach. Those involved say “Fair Play Brazil” was inspired by the apostle Paul.
“Corinth was one of the largest and busiest cities of the Roman Empire and hosted one of the biggest sporting events in the calendar; the Isthmian Games,” said Zimmer. “There, Paul found the opportunity to preach the Gospel to people from all over the world. We and our partners share that same vision now – both for the World Cup this year and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016.”
Costco released an apology yesterday for Bibles at a California store being labeled as fiction. Now, a woman in Missouri has discovered Bibles labeled as fiction in a store in Manchester, Missouri.
Not only were the Bibles labeled fiction, they were put in a display with Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
Mary-Margaret Meyers-Walker said she offered to move the Bibles to the correct section of the store. She called the regional office and was told that the store apparently never received the memo to move the Bibles.
Meyers-Walker said she visited the store because she had heard of the controversy in California.
The local management refused to talk to St. Louis area station KMOX about the incident.
Costco has released a statement apologizing for at least one of their stores selling Bibles with a label on them that read “fiction.”
“We deeply regret the mislabeling of the Bible and meant no offense to anyone,” read an e-mail statement. “The buyer has let us know that this was an error and the books are being pulled off the shelves to be re-marked.”
Fox News says Costco sent them a statement claiming their distributor made a mislabeling mistake on a small percentage of Bibles but that the company should have spotted and corrected the mistake before the books were placed on store shelves.
A pastor in Simi Valley, California who snapped a picture of the Bible and posted it on twitter first discovered the labeling. The photo of the Bible went viral and led to hundreds of complaints to Costco’s offices.
Georgia’s governor has issued an order reversing a Department of Natural Resources decision to remove Bibles from cabins and lodges at state parks.
Governor Nathan Deal ordered the Bibles to be returned after what he called a decision made “out of an abundance of caution to avoid potential litigation.” The Bibles were removed after a visitor complained about a Bible in their room. Continue reading →
The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to sue schools in Kentucky if they permit the Gideons to distribute Bibles on school grounds.
William Sharp, ACLU Kentucky staff attorney, accuses elementary school staff of violating federal laws by helping the Gideons give Bibles to students who request them. Continue reading →