ChristianWeek

GEULPH, ON—Life is often challenging to members of The Gideons International in Canada. While they are widely known, they are sometimes misunderstood. “The Gideons are a lot like Santa Claus,” comments one veteran member. “You never actually see them, but they leave good things behind.”

Is leaving a Bible behind as a good thing? Not everybody thinks so. That’s why volunteer Bible distributors in Canada increasingly find themselves in the centre of public controversy.

This is unusual territory for an unassuming group. The majority of Canadians are familiar with The Gideons because of the Bibles the organization places in hotel rooms. But relatively few realize that this represents less than 10 per cent of the agency’s total domestic distribution.

Millions of Canadian school children can remember receiving a red Gideon New Testament as a gift in Grade 5. But Canadians may not realize that nearly two thirds of the Scriptures slated for distribution by Canadian Gideons are destined for delivery in 181 countries around the world.

Public square

Most Gideon activity passes unnoticed by Canadians. However, the great majority of the group’s ministry in Canada does occur in the public square. “The public institutions we affect are prisons, schools, hospitals, universities, extended care facilities and medical offices,” explains longtime Gideon staff member Neil Bramble. And it’s those places—particularly the schools—where Gideon ministry is facing challenges.

Several times a year, in one part of the country or another, some parent or journalist will notice that Gideon Bibles are available to Grade 5 students and raise the alarm. Why, they ask, should the public school system help the Gideons in their mission to see people convert to Christian beliefs? Handing out Bibles to students gives Christianity preferential treatment in our society, they insist.

But such is not the case. Indeed, many groups distribute literature in schools and other public institutions. They pay attention to policy guidelines, taking advantage of options available to anyone with an appropriate message and enough motivation to do what it takes to get the job done.

For the Grade 5 distribution, for example, Gideons follow procedures and guidelines established by school boards. They first contact school principals and set up a date to bring the New Testaments. Permission cards are provided and parents may consent for their child to receive the Youth Testament. The presentation does not interfere with class time unless the teacher deems it beneficial to the student.

In this they are simply exercising freedoms widely available in a pluralist society.

In 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada (Chamberlain v Surrey District School Board) clearly agreed that “secular principles” must include—and not exclude—religious believers, because the secular is the realm of competing belief systems and atheism and agnosticism are belief systems.

“The Gideons have developed a very respectful practice is well in line with pluralism, multiculturalism and the primary role of parents in the education of the young,” blogs Iain Benson, director of the Centre for Cultural Renewal.

“Bibles, apart from continuing to sell like hotcakes, still scare many people. Ideas have consequences, and some people think that the best way to avoid certain consequences is to restrict ideas. Perhaps that is a decision best left to the parents. They are, after all, the ones for whom the public education system exists, not the other way around,” says Benson.

Social benefit

Arguments like this are encouraging Gideons to strengthen their ministry in the public arena.

“The threat of closed doors is one that should concern the larger Christian community, not just us,” says Gideon creative director Greg Elliot. “We live in a time and a place where the Gideons are assuming the responsibility to say that God’s word has both a place and a benefit in society today.”

What benefit? Gideon files are full of stories of people “being rescued by God’s Word.” An alcoholic, for example, causes lots of social problems. But the timely reading of a Gideon Bible launches the beginning of a transformation that turns his life around. “We have many testimonies to this effect,” says Elliot.

“Here is a person who was a drug addict or thief, a violent person who carried guns and knives but who now is radically changed. Now he is a contributing member of society and helps others,” adds Bramble.

“We believe the Bible articulates and affirms values important to society. We want people to see and know that when we follow those principles, society is better,” he says.