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SoundOff for Feb. 20

Bible dispute

The Gideons have a great idea by trying to get young people to read the Bible. It’s full of history and actually a very interesting book to read. It seems natural, with the reputation they have for distributing Bibles worldwide, that they would distribute them to schools. Only why not in Hayden and South Routt as well?

Bibles have no business in public schools. Religion doesn’t have any business in the public schools. Someone should have their head examined for allowing this. It is an outrage and an abuse of our amendment.



I am not upset at the distribution of Bibles at the middle school. They are talking about evolution in the middle school.

I’m appalled that a religious group was allowed to distribute Bibles. Church and state are separate in our country. I was upset last year when you let Young Life go to the middle school. Please don’t do this again.



I am not upset that a religious group was allowed to display Bibles. After all, they also have the right to freedom of speech and to share their opinions as freely as anyone does.

I think that the Gideons should be allowed to distribute Bibles in the schools in the way that they were doing it, without proselytizing and having a table there for the students.

Yes, I am upset that a religious group was allowed to display Bibles. This is not just a Christian country; we need to be a little more on it about separation of church and state. There are plenty of churches out in the community for people who are interested in the Bible to go to; keep them out of the schools.

I’m so sick and tired about certain people being so concerned that a Bible would get into the hands of their children that they would want to change school policy. Maybe they should just tell their children to steer clear of the only book that really matters and let other children make up their own minds. Maybe there would be less bullying, stealing and destructive behavior at the middle school if these parents would be more concerned about teaching what really matters. After all, the Bible is the only book that teaches us how to live.

I think we should be upset that Bibles haven’t been placed in the elementary and high schools, considering the moral dilemma our nation is in.

I hope, very soon, someone tests the School Board’s policy by asking to set up a table with copies of the Koran, The Watch Tower, the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita, the Book of Mormon, Dianetics, Writings of Bha’u’llah, Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, Globalized Islam, the Search for the new Ummah, or better yet, a witch’s Bible. If you are willing to let Gideons in, you must allow everyone in. Where will you draw the line? A publicly funded school is not the place to deliver religious information of any kind.

Kudos to Jeff Troeger for standing up to those School Board members who are furthering their own personal agendas by permitting the Gideons to distribute Bibles at Steamboat Springs Middle School. The issue is not whether we agree with what the Gideons are espousing. It’s that our Constitution mandates a separation of church and state. No religious groups, whether Gideons, Satanists, Hindus or Druids, should be allowed to distribute material on public school grounds.

It is completely inappropriate for the School Board (or the school principal) to allow any group, whether religious or not, to solicit children on public school grounds. Whether we agree with the Gideons’ philosophy is irrelevant; they simply do not belong in our schools.

Can newspapers be displayed in a public school? Can current best-selling novels be displayed? Can a book describing Islam be displayed? Can a book considered important to 80 percent of the American voting public be displayed? If you say yes to these questions; then yes, you can display Bibles in public schools. Is the book so threatening that the mere appearance of it in a public place causes such an uproar? It is a book. It doesn’t commit crimes against society. It doesn’t advocate immorality, public nudity, drunkenness, stealing, wife beating, or drug use. It is just a book. If the hatred that is manifested by its existence were directed toward a race, a religion (other that Christianity), a sex or sexual orientation, color, or age, those individuals expressing such views would be severely chastised. It’s just a book!

Give me a break! You have a choice, pick up the Bible or walk right on by…what’s the big deal? This is America, right? Hopefully the schools are teaching our youths about freedom of choice and the freedom that only America has. Are the same parents as up in arms about having a “Gay Alliance” at the school?

Too tax dependent

I think Steamboat does rely on sales taxes too much. Also, with Oak Creek building the new roof on the ice rink, I don’t think we needed that. I think they need to concentrate on fixing the roads. They are putting Oak Creek in debt.

Stop building

The last thing the ski base area needs is more condominiums. The profiteers are at it again, developing Gotham City, erecting eight stories to cast darkness on the only amenities the base area has: Ski Time Square. What the base area needs is more amenities, locals, visitors, music, venues and vitality.


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