Popular Bible Man Banned From Schools Due To One Atheist Mom’s Request

Horace Turner has been sharing the Bible to interested elementary school students in Grundy County, Tennessee as the super hero Bible Man for the last 40 years. Turner has a long history of ministering to young children and sharing the Bible with them. Attending a visit from the Bible Man was the choice of each student, not a mandatory activity. However, one atheist mom has complained about the Bible studies, calling them unconstitutional, which has resulted in the ban of Bible Man from school.

The atheist mom claims she and her child have received threats since her complaints about the Bible super hero, though anonymous, were aired. While it is understandable that area Christians are upset about this latest ban of the Bible from schools, it is not acceptable to respond with violence. Christians are called to love.

I find it frightening that one negative voice can destroy decades of positive influence. If this mother did not want her son to be exposed to Bible lessons, she could have excused him from participating in the Bible Man visits. Whatever happened to the old adage “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?” Due to one person, an entire county of school children are denied the pleasure of learning from the Bible Man.

Willie Childers, Grundy County school district interim superintendent, spoke about the ban of Bible Man.

“I believe the perception was that we’re trying to get rid of [Bible Man], and that was not the perception we wanted to present.”

The Grundy County Herald reports that Bible Man was asked to discontinue his Bible lessons until the school board could sort out the situation.

The school board chairman, Tim Spicer, met with the school board attorney as well as the Christian Law Association and Alliance Defending Freedom. He was told the Bible Man studies may possibly be allowed to continue, as long as they were conducted in a certain manner.

“All three attorneys agree that there are other ways to have Mr. Turner’s [Bible Man] program. The simplest way would be to make it an after school program just like any other club or activity. The second option is to have what is called ‘release time’. With this, parents would sign permission slips allowing their children to participate in Mr. Turner’s program during school hours. The catch is that the [Bible Man] program must be conducted off school grounds and someone other than the school system would have to provide transportation.”

It seems like a lot of hoops to jump through just because one mother filed a complaint. Again, wouldn’t it have been easier simply to excuse her own child from the Bible lessons? A petition is making rounds and the Facebook page Bring Mr. Turner Back To Grundy was started by supporters. The following is a recent post to the site.

“We Christians need to stand up and fight for God! And we will also be praying at 5:45 before the meeting starts.”

A related report by the Inquisitr cautions that Mr. Turner’s version of Bible Man should not be confused with the Bibleman show created by Willie Aames.

Should the Bible Man visits be readily available to the school children who wish to attend? Is this yet another attack on the Bible?

[Image via Refining Truth]