The Civil Ombudsman has received a complaint, from the Gideons International, about a new education directive that discourages religious writings, like the Bible, as gifts for students.
New interpretation of Education Act does not “meet legal requirements:” The Gideons International
The Gideons International, the Evangelical Christian mission organization, has filed a complaint to the Civil Ombudsman about the Directorate of Education’s new interpretation of the Education Act regarding religious texts.
Gideon distributes between 15.000 and 20.000 copies of the New Testament in Norwegian secondary schools every year as gifts, according to the newspaper Vårt Land. However, a new interpretation of the Education Act came into force in August 2021 which recommended that municipalities do not allow religious organizations or denominations to distribute religious texts as gifts to students in schools.
Steinar A. Hopland, Secretary-General of The Gideons International in Norway, is unhappy with the new interpretation of the Act. Talking to Vårt Land, he said “We believe this case is very unfair. The Directorate of Education’s interpretation of the Education Act does not meet legal requirements. It says in the Bible that we will fight to the bitter end, and we will do that here.”
New interpretation influenced by Human-Ethical Association letter
The new interpretation of the Act can be traced back to a letter sent by the Human-Ethical Association to the Directorate of Education last year. In it, the Association asked for an evaluation of whether it was acceptable for Bibles to be handed out at schools. The practice by Gideons International was specifically named in the letter.
In a reply to the Association’s letter, the Directorate of Education wrote that it “…does not recommend that the municipality allow religious organizations / religious communities to distribute religious writings or objects in the form of gifts to students.”
Yet for Hopland, this new ruling is perplexing as the whole process takes only a few minutes. Talking to Vårt Land, he said that “It is completely incomprehensible to us that we are not allowed to distribute Bibles. We enter the classrooms and the teacher welcomes us. We say three sentences about what Gideon is and state that we have with us bilingual new testaments…those that want a copy can get it…the whole process takes five minutes.”
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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