Have you heard about the Tennessee school that has banned Bibles at recess? If not, then you haven't been paying attention to right-wing news recently. That's probably a good thing, because as usually the right-wing news has been misrepresenting the situation horribly.

World Net Daily, as might be expected, relies heavily on quotes from the Alliance Defense Fund - the same organization involved in misrepresenting the story about the Declaration of Independence being banned in a California school:

"The Constitution does not prohibit Bibles during recess; it prohibits the wholesale banning of Bibles during recess," said Charles Pope, the ADF-allied attorney who wrote the letter to the district. "A school official cannot tell a student that he can't bring his Bible to school or study it with friends during non-classroom time," Pope stated.

According to ADF, 10-year-old student Luke Whitson used his regularly scheduled recess time to read the Bible with a few friends on his school's playground. After receiving a complaint from a parent, the principal reportedly ordered the students to stop their activity, put their Bibles away and cease from bringing them to school.

"Students may have religious discussions and Bible study during non-instructional time," he explained in his letter. "The school district should immediately issue a statement addressing the unconstitutional actions and policy and alerting all personnel to permit Luke and other similarly situated students to exercise their constitutional rights."

As a consequence of stories like this, the principal of Karns Elementary School has received a deluge of hate mail, with many people calling her a "fascist" and a "communist." I'll be she's never experienced quite this degree of love from her fellow Christians in America.

Knox News reports on the truth of the situation:

She said students can bring Bibles to school - in fact, she has one in her own office.

But the trickier question is: When can students read their Bibles? The answer, according to the Knox County public school system's attorney, is, during "free time."

And free time does not necessarily include recess, said the attorney, Marty McCampbell. "I think recess is part of the school day. I wouldn't call it free time," she said.

Of course it's not "free time." Kids of any age need a break from studying; kids that young need a time when they can release pent-up energy. Time for play and running is as much a necessary part of school as time for reading. It's just ignorance that causes people to imagine that "recess" is dispensable free time.

"For little kids, it's important to get them out, to get oxygen in their brains," McCampbell said. "Having that time, it's structured into the day for a purpose, because little kids at that age do need that kind of physical outlet."

If the school allowed for other structured studying at this time, then they wouldn't easily be able to prohibit a structured Bible study at this time. If the school prohibits structured study at this time generally, then they are on solid ground for including Bible study as well.

WBIR explains another piece of information that sites like World Net Daily and organizations like the ADF have failed to include: this wasn't just a student reading his Bible. Instead, a parent was coming to the school in order to conduct a Bible study with three students:

Summa says she was never asked whether a student could read the Bible during recess. What she was asked by a parent and three students was could they have a Bible study group during recess. Summa says she responded that children couldn't have a Bible study during the school day. Knox County Schools spokesman Russ Oakes says the district allows such groups to meet before or after school hours.

It's because of the Christian Right's history of dishonesty on such matters — and the ADF's most recent misrepresentations — that people like Ed Brayton were skeptical when the first reports of this story came out. Well, they were right to be skeptical. As has been the case so often it the past, the truth includes many fact that change the character of the story completely. Instead of a dictatorial school acting unconstitutionally, it sounds like we have a school that acted very sensibly and with the students' interests in mind.

Read More:

• Separation of Church and State 101
• Church and State News
• Religion in Public Schools
• Secularism 101
• Religious Right
• Religious Right News