School Board Has Second Thoughts On Religious Literature Policy

After last month's approval of the first reading of policy permitting non-school-related "books and periodicals" including religious literature to be made available to high school students, the Brunswick (North Carolina) County Board of Education last week voted to table the measure. Yesterday's Brunswick Beacon reports that the decision was taken after the board met with legal counsel who told them that the proposed policy does not conform with the only court decision that permits religious material to be distributed. The board was apparently also concerned by the inquiries it was already receiving about distributing materials under the policy. Unitarian Universalists, Jehovah's Witnesses and Buddhists have already made inquiries, as has a group interested in distributing books on pagan religions.