Angry Parents Say Son Was Stopped From Reading Bible in School
Photo by Stocksy
Parents in Missouri claimed this week that their 12-year-old son’s rights were violated when he was allegedly stopped from reading his Bible during free time in the classroom.
“I like to read my Bible because it’s a good book,” Loyal Grandstaff told WDAF-TV on Monday. But, he claims, when he was reading it to himself before the holiday break, his seventh-grade teacher at Bueker Middle School in Marshall asked him to put the book away because it wasn’t permitted in the classroom. His father, Justin Grandstaff, was incensed, telling the TV station, “I feel like it violated his freedom of religion but also his freedom of speech.”
But Bueker principal Lance Tobin tells Yahoo Parenting, “It was a misunderstanding,” declining to explain what exactly happened. “Bibles are not banned from school,” he added. Any student who wishes to read the Bible may, he says, as long as it’s during what’s been “designated as free time.”
The Grandstaffs could not be reached by Yahoo Parenting. But Loyal seemed clear about what happened when he told WDAF, “I was just reading because I had free time. A time to do what I wanted to, so I just broke it out and read.” His teacher, he added, “doesn’t want me reading it in his class because he don’t believe it.” Loyal’s father was offended, he explained, because as he sees it, “There’s kids walking around disrespecting their teachers, kids walking around cussing and everything else, and they’re practically getting into no trouble at all.”
The situation was in stark contrast to one in Bartow County, Georgia, last month, where representatives from Gideons International were distributing Bibles to children at Cloverleaf Elementary School. At the time, the national Freedom From Religion Foundation had threatened to file a lawsuit if the practice didn’t stop.
As for Bueker Middle School, Mark Goldfeder, Emory Law School senior lecturer and Law and Religion Students Program director, says he would hope it turned out to be a misunderstanding. Otherwise, he tells Yahoo Parenting in an email, “This is really an open and shut case.”
https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/angry-parents-say-son-was-stopped-from-reading-107328469902.html
Bible translation is underway in areas hostile to Christianity and Westerners, but the real story may be the people doing the translation work.
Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates, tells OneNewsNow about Scriptures for New Frontiers.
SmithSmith goes on to share that some of the people in the national translation teams are former members of well-known terrorist organizations, whose objectives were to expose and eliminate Christians.
"Paul's testimony is one that's actually quite similar to many of the testimonies of the guys that are now doing Bible translation," the CEO compares. "So what was possible and even miraculous back in the first century is still happening today."
When it comes to missions, it has been said that all can pray, many can pay and some can go. In this case, Smith says it is difficult for the people who are not from these hostile areas to go and serve.
"But that leaves at least two ways that we can help these teams," he notes. "The first way is by praying for them. As former terrorists, the people who are still terrorists know who they are and certainly don't see them as allies to their cause. The other thing that people can do to help would be to support this financially in their stewardship."
Wycliffe is providing technical and other resources, and the organization is looking to raise about $204,000 to help fund the effort.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/missions/2014/12/15/former-terrorists-now-translating-bible#.VKwf32dOXmQ
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