We’ve all heard the news stories of religious groups trying to insert their religion into the public school system.

Apparently, there is a legal way that they can do this – by simply leaving the Bible on tables.

We just over a month away from our 2013 high school Bible distribution. We are excited to again be able to distribute Bibles in Collier and Orange county high schools. Our members and volunteers from many local churches will place Bibles on tables during the lunch periods for students to pick up. We have given out thousands of Bibles over the last few years and we are working to expand the program to many other school districts.

So as long as they’re not speaking with students or forcing their materials on them, they can legally have their Bibles distributed this way:

The court order states that anyone must be allowed to distribute materials in a school, with certain exceptions, such as no promotion of drugs, alcohol, pornography and advertisements for products.

I guess the American Atheists and The Freedom from Religion Foundation found out about the Bible distribution and decided to hand out their own paraphernalia:

David Silverman, President of American Atheists said, “Orange County is showing favoritism by allowing the distribution of Bibles in the county high schools. This is an issue of preserving the rights of all students, regardless of their beliefs. “Silverman continues, “We will be moving forward to distribute books written by Madalyn Murray O’Hair on atheism in the same manner. Our request will be presented to the school board asking for a specific date when we can place our books in the schools. We expect equal treatment for us; as well as any and all other religions that want to distribute their literature in the same manner.”

So far there has been no response from the school board.

But I freaking love this idea.

It will probably cut down on the need for a costly court battle and clearly makes the point that favoritism won’t be tolerated. Hopefully other religious groups will hop on board. I would love to see some Wiccan reading material or even the Koran made available.

I wonder how long it will take the World Changers of Florida, Inc. to change their mind. I’m not even sure why they need to hand out their bibles, since you can obtain a free copy in many different places, including online. You can probably even obtain one at the local library and there are churches that will gladly hand you a bible if you request one.

However, if they refuse, they will be breaking the court order they fought to obtain in the first place. They’ll also be admitting that equality means nothing to them.

Welcome to the marketplace of ideas, where Christianity isn't automatically given the privileged position.