Iowa State properly handled Bible complaint

Many years ago the Christian evangelical group Gideon International placed copies of Bibles in hotel rooms in the Iowa State University Memorial Union. Apparently no one gave it much thought until last month when a group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation called on the university to remove the Bibles. Obviously wanting to avoid a legal battle, the university agreed to do so.

Then all hell broke loose.

Since the Bibles’ removal made news, Iowa State officials have been hammered by critics who believe they are wrongly complicit in removing religion from the public sphere. Fox News jumped on the story. Then a Georgia-based organization called Alliance Defending Freedom countered with a demand of its own that the university keep the Gideon Bibles because otherwise it would violate the First Amendment with an act of “hostility to religion.”

The university chose a wise middle ground between these competing demands.

continue at Des Moines Register