Religious Freedom Day event on hold in dispute over Satanic coloring book

In about a week, students in Orange County high schools could have been picking up Bibles or pamphlets about atheism on nationally recognized Religious Freedom Day, but it’s all on hold for now because of concerns fueled by a coloring book from the Satanic Temple.

“It seems like the momentum right now is to a policy that would exclude all religious materials, which is unnecessary,” said attorney Roger Gannam.

Gannam is one of the attorneys representing the Christian group that left Bibles in schools the last few years.

He’s concerned they could lose the opportunity all together, which is what David Williamson and his atheist group said they’ve been hoping to accomplish.

“We don’t want our schools to become religious battlefields,” said Williamson.

The school board has decided to review its policy about materials being left for students to pick up.

So far, bibles and atheist pamphlets have been allowed, but the additional request from the Satanic Temple has district officials weighing their options.

Their next meeting about the policy is two weeks after Religious Freedom Day, which is already a small win for Williamson’s group.

“We’ve advocated all along to close the forum,” Williamson said.