Atheist materials censored in Orange schools at center of lawsuit

The group that wanted to give out the materials is suing the school district

But these materials were among about a dozen books and pamphlets that were rejected by school-district attorneys and now are the subject of a lawsuit claiming censorship. Other materials were accepted by the district and were given out to students in May.

An atheist group this spring wanted to distribute books in Orange County high schools that criticize Christianity and Islam, question whether Jesus rose from the dead and point out numerous instances of violence against women in the Bible.

The Central Florida Freethought Community acknowledges the explosiveness of the materials but contends the district had to allow them after twice permitting another group to give out uncensored Bibles at the same high schools.

Both the Freethought Community and the Christian group World Changers of Florida Inc. were allowed to conduct a "passive" distribution, in which materials were left on tables for students to take.

"If the School Board intends to allow distribution of materials from any outside group, they must be prepared to review every line of every page," said David Williamson of the Freethought group. "We feel they didn't do that because they didn't review the Bible with the same scrutiny."

Williamson noted that the Bible includes passages calling for violence against women, children and nonbelievers.

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, which represents World Changers, said it was reasonable for the school district to reject some of the atheist materials.

"The open forum is not there just to be abused. It's not to be used to demean another group," Staver said.

The reasons Orange legal counsel gave for rejecting materials from the atheist group included age-inappropriate passages, creating the potential for a "substantial disruption at school" and "insulting religions."

The book "What on Earth is an Atheist," a collection of texts taken from radio broadcasts by Madalyn Murray O'Hair in the late 1960s, was banned because she criticized the Mormon and Roman Catholic churches, according to a letter sent to the Freethought Community by John Palmerini, associate general counsel for Orange schools.

Also banned was a pamphlet called "An X-Rated Book: Sex & Obscenity In The Bible," which lists biblical passages about incest, rape, bestiality, circumcision and homosexuality. It was rejected as age-inappropriate and likely to cause a disruption. Legal counsel also objected to the hand drawing on the cover, which portrays a humanized Bible with its hand up a woman's dress.

Andrew Seidel, a staff attorney with the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, said his group fields multiple complaints about Bible distributions in schools every year. Many of those complaints are connected to The Gideons International, which also distributes Bibles to hotels.

What's unusual is for a school district to have endorsed the distribution by creating an open forum for discussion of religious ideas, Seidel said.