Bible TARGETED – Activist Mission Launched
(UnitedVoice.com) – Over the last several years, Christians have experienced discrimination in differing forms. In 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled Montana discriminated against religious schools by offering scholarships to those who attended private institutions so long as they weren’t of the religious variety. Later in the year, the high court ruled in separate cases against California and New York for violating a church’s right to worship during a pandemic while treating businesses without Constitutional protections differently. In late June or early July, the court will decide if a high school football coach had a right to express his faith through prayer on a taxpayer-owned football field after each game.
Now, one person is threatening the Bible in Florida. A self-proclaimed activist is using a new Florida law that allows parents to object to books in schools to get rid of the Holy Book. On a GoFundMe page created by activist Chaz Stevens, he admits to trolling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and wrote that he waited a long time for this opportunity to get rid of the Bible in schools.
Activist Exploits New Florida Law to Eradicate Bible in Schools
On March 25, DeSantis signed Florida House Bill 1467 into law. Lawmakers designed the legislation to give parents a more significant say in what books are available to young children in schools. On April 18, the institutions removed 54 math textbooks over references to Critical Race Theory (CRT). Now, 57-year-old activist Chaz Stevens says schools should throw the Bible out with the woke textbooks.
Stevens sent petitions to over 60 Florida school districts demanding they ban the Bible. A Deerfield Beach, Florida resident, Stevens says he’s an archbishop of the First Church of Mars, ordained in California and Florida, and says he’s an atheist. Stevens told the Tallahassee Democrat he intends to use the new law exactly as Florida legislators designed. He said it didn’t exempt religious texts from taxpayers’ ability to question them in schools.
The petition is three pages long and references Bible passages that Stevens said show examples of murder, rape, and bestiality.
Is Stevens Petition an Unintended Consequence?
Assistant Superintendent of Leon County Schools Billy Epting said he’s reviewing the complaint. If the school didn’t, Epting expressed concern that the district would appear to show favoritism or injection of personal opinion into deciding what books appear or don’t appear on school shelves. His concern expressed the tensions administrators may feel as an unintended consequence of the Florida law.
If schools reject Stevens’ claim, could lawsuits follow? Does the Bible — or other religious books such as the Quran or the Torah — enjoy Constitutional protections in public settings under the First Amendment protections of freedom of religion, expression, or speech? It could take the federal courts to decide the matter of religious books in schools. Of all the religious landmark cases involving religious liberties, the US Supreme Court has never addressed the issue of the Bibles on school shelves or public property.
Stay tuned. This case has all the makings of a new legal battle.
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