By Matt Tate
The availability of the Bible at a Weaverville school is continuing to incite passionate debate in the area, although the mother who first complained about the issue said lines are being crossed.
Ginger Strivelli, who complained to North Windy Ridge and Buncombe County school officials after her son brought home a New Testament provided by Gideons International last December, said her child is being bullied at school for his family’s Pagan beliefs and she is being targeted online.
“There has been so much harassment and negativity,” she said. “It’s just really getting ugly.”
Much of the negativity stems from people not understanding their own religion, much less others, Strivelli said.
“They don’t understand their own religion and that’s why they don’t understand anyone else,” she said. “For a religion that claims to be about love and light, they are acting hateful.”
Rusty Smart, who works as an associate pastor at Calvary Worship Center in Marshall and has been active in the online conversation about the situation at North Windy Ridge, said any bashing from Christians is unfortunate.
“That is not the way Christians should act,” he said. Smart’s son also attends North Windy Ridge School.
Ben Whitmire, senior pastor at Locust Grove Baptist Church whose son also attends the school, concurred.
“Those types of things shouldn’t happen. I would encourage people not to lash out,” he said.
Strivelli said the behavior reflects poorly upon Christians.
“I don’t know what Jesus would do, but Buddha would be much nicer,” she remarked.
Gray area
The debate began shortly before the schools’ winter break when a group from Gideons International dropped off about 650 New Testaments. They asked to distribute them to students but were rebuffed, according to Buncombe County Schools spokesperson Jan Blunt. The testaments were placed in the front office, and students were allowed to pick them up at their own discretion, according to Blunt. About half were taken before the Gideons returned to school to pick up the remainder.
Strivelli returned to NWRS last week and asked to drop off several boxes of books that had been donated from Pagan authors and supporters.
Principal Jackie Byerly said last month she would accept similar religious books but Strivelli was told last week that policies were changing.
Buncombe County Schools released the following statement concerning the situation:
“Buncombe County School officials are currently reviewing relevant policies and practices with school board attorneys; during this review period, no school in the system will be accepting donations of materials that could be viewed as advocating a particular religion or belief.”
A 2001 memorandum about the use of school campuses by religious groups distributed to BCS officials by Christopher Campbell, whose law firm Campbell Shatley represents the district, stated that Bible distribution by non-student groups is historically prohibited by the courts. The memorandum went on to state that although a ruling from Peck v. Upshur Board of Education, a 1998 case in West Virginia, allowed availability in secondary schools, it did not apply to elementary schools like NWRS.
Religious texts made available in secondary schools may be done through a passive approach, such as prohibiting school officials from making an announcement, and other non-student groups could demand the right to distribute their religious materials at the same time and in the same manner and place, according to the memorandum.
Strivelli said NWRS officials were cordial but she expected the end result.
“They were much less dismissive and rude than two weeks ago. They were still quite unfair about it so we took the books and left,” she added.
The schools’ willingness to review its policies, though, speaks to the gray area religion has in public schools.
Strivelli said there have been other instances involving religion that her children have encountered within the county school system, such as a student-led prayer before a marching band event, that she disregarded in the past.
“I don’t go looking for these things. I try to ignore them,” she said.
Strivelli added that she has been involved with about six causes throughout the years with the county school system, such as a performance of religious-only melodies during a school’s chorus recital, where she felt the schools overstepped their rights.
“They’re not going to enforce their faith upon other children at public schools,” she said.
The county schools do allow student-led religious fellowship, such as events where students congregate to pray around a flagpole, but teachers, staff members and administrators are not allowed to be involved, according to Byerly.
Smart acts as a chaplain for the North Buncombe High School football team, and NBHS Athletics Director Rick High said he works to make sure all athletes feel at ease with any inference of religion.
“We do have several non-Christian kids that I’m aware of that are athletes here. At any point they are uncomfortable, they can come to me or they can remove themselves without any penalty,” he said. “I tell the coaches about these players and let them know they need to make sure that [the non-Christian athletes] are not made to feel uncomfortable.”
Smart said drawing the distinction is difficult when religion is so ingrained in many people’s lives.
“Where is the line drawn? It’s hard,” he said.
Strivelli has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union about the situation at NWRS, although the union has yet to take up action.
The ACLU was involved in a similar situation in 2007 when it contacted school board attorneys for Cumberland County in North Carolina after some Gideons dropped off Bibles in elementary schools in that district. The ACLU referenced the Peck case, saying younger impressionable students could interpret the act as the school promoting a particular religion, echoing a footnote in that 1998 decision by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The district eventually halted the practice in elementary schools in the Fayetteville-metro area.
“The schools wouldn’t be changing their policy if they didn’t know they had to. It’s about breaking the law,” she said. “[Buncombe County Schools] have lots of things they need to change.”
Smart said Strivelli is using the schools to manipulate her message.
“She is using the school system as a platform to get her agenda out,” he said. “I have nothing against her or any Pagans. I just dislike what they are doing.”
Whitmire did not see anything wrong with the Gideons or Strivelli making their religious publications available to students.
“We don’t believe there were any laws broken or anything done unethically. I really don’t understand what the problem is,” he remarked.
Civil discourse
Sports radio shows lately have been dominated by talk of the merits of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. While much of the passionate chatter is centered around his uneven play on the field, part of the reason Tebow talk moves the needle is his devout Christian beliefs.
The conversation about the availability of the New Testament at NWRS generated more than 70 comments on the Weaverville TribuneÕs Facebook page. Several were laced with anger on both sides of the issue.
“Freedom of speech is something we hold dear. But hopefully this could be done in a civil manner,” Whitmire said. “We want to have a civil discourse about it. I believe as Americans and as adults, I think we should be able to do that.”
Strivelli said an issue that affects the religious debate is that many Christians are not aware, or do not acknowledge, the presence of other religions.
“This county is not as completely Christian as the Christians would like to think,” she said. “You take Buddhists, Pagans, Atheists, Jews and others. You add us all up, and we are a pretty good number. And a majority shouldn’t stomp all over the minority’s rights.”
The tendency for a religious conversation to incite arguments is one reason she believed most non-Christians do not voice their oppositions.
“Many of us are wary to stand up,” she said.
Smart said if other religious texts were made available to his child, he would use it as a teaching moment.
He wondered why the availability of the New Testament caused such a stir.
“Why are you so afraid of the New Testament Bible? If you are that afraid, maybe you should rethink your own beliefs,” he said.
Whitmire said he hoped the conversation can come to an agreeable and peaceful resolution.
“I am going to pray for [Strivelli]. And that’s what I going to continue to do. We hope this situation will rectify without it being ugly,” he said.
Smart said the probability that schools will eventually ban groups like the Gideons from dropping off religious texts is a lose-lose situation.
“Nobody has won here. She doesn’t win. We don’t win. And the kids lose all together,” he remarked.
