Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
Feb 4 2005

Storm in a teacup
By Jean Christou

English School answers accusers after student protest

THE ENGLISH School Parents Association said yesterday the issue of a
tiny number of pupils objecting to a visit by Gideon bible
distributors had been blown out of proportion.

Chairwoman Magda Nicholson told the Cyprus Mail that the association
did not have any objections to the visit by the Gideon representative
to the school. Gideon bibles are most famous for being placed in
public places all over the world and are distributed free by a
100-year old Christian organisation, which has made it its life
mission to do so.

Earlier this week when a representative visited the English School,
seven Greek Orthodox pupils walked out in protest, claiming it was an
attempt to `convert them’.

The incident was sensationalised in the local press, saying the
pupils had been threatened with expulsion. The school reportedly said
it had received permission from the Church but the headmaster could
not be contacted yesterday.

`Seven pupils out of 900 is not a very representative number,’
Nicholson told the Cyprus Mail. `What was talked about by the
spokesman of these people was not in a religious context. He talked
about love and how love can keep us all together and whoever would
like to read the bible could have one free of charge.’

Nicholson said the Gideon representative did not speak about any
particular religion during his brief talk.

`It wasn’t a bible thing and if anyone had grounds to object it
should have been the Turkish Cypriots,’ she said. `I had a meeting
with the Turkish Cypriot parents on Tuesday night and none of them
mentioned it.’

Nicholson said the English School catered for all of the different
religions of its pupils, who are mainly Greek Orthodox. `There is a
Greek Cypriot Religious Instruction teacher, a Turkish Cypriot
teacher who teaches Islam, and also religious teachers for the
Armenian pupils,’ she said.

She added that the school’s student council had objected to the
actions of the seven pupils and were planning to publish an
announcement about it. `The kids are being punished not on the
grounds of their objections to what they heard but for showing
disrespect to guests at the school,’ she said.

`It’s a tolerance issue. There has to be religious tolerance. The
whole thing was blown out of proportion.’

According to their website the Gideons International, founded in
1899, serves as an extended missionary arm of the church and is the
oldest Christian business and professional men’s association in the
US.

The association has more than 236,000 members, located in 179
countries of the world. They are `united in carrying out the same
program using the same methods to accomplish the one objective of
winning others to Christ’.

The primary function of The Gideons is the placing and distributing
Bibles and New Testaments in as many places as. `Gideons as laymen,
stand shoulder to shoulder as missionaries of local churches and
their pastors in going to the four corners of the world to win others
for the Lord Jesus Christ,’ the mission statement said.
Annually, The Gideons International is placing and distributing more
than 59,000,000 scriptures worldwide. `This averages one million
copies of the Word of God placed every seven days, or 112 per
minute.’