Gov. Bush encourages Florida kids to read H.G. Wells book

When Americans United for Separation of Church and State protested to Gov. Jeb Bush over his contest encouraging children to read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, much favored by the religious right for its Christian themes, Focus on Family slammed Americans United. Focus on the Family's article follows that of Americans United.

Florida Governor Promotes Christian Book

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, AU Bulletin, November 2005

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, in conjunction with the release of a major motion picture, has launched a contest to encourage students to read C.S. Lewis' Christian allegory, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Bush's "Just Read, Florida!" contest asks the state's private and public school students in grades 3-12 to submit essays, artwork or videos after reading the book, in which a group of children face good and evil in a fantasy land known as Narnia. The book is filled with allusions to Christianity.

According to the governor's Web site, the contest is being supported by the two "media giants," Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, which are releasing a movie based on the book in early December.

A vice president for Walden told the Palm Beach Post that the reading contest will help market the movie and that Florida officials approached the group with the idea.

"They came to us," said Debbie Kovacs. "We didn't approach them. They said they wanted to apply this book to their program."

Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told the Post that the state should not promote religion.

"This whole contest is totally inappropriate," Lynn told the newspaper, because of the religious theme of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. "This would be like asking children to watch the movie 'The Passion of the Christ' and to write an essay with the winner getting a trip to Rome."

Suit Possible Over Narnia

Americans United doesn't want students encouraged to read the classic novels.

Focus on the Family, November 15, 2005

The Disney movie "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," based on the classic by C.S. Lewis, will be out Dec. 9, but some are arguing that schoolchildren should not be encouraged to read the book.

One example: Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is sponsoring a contest urging students to read books in "The Chronicles of Narnia" series.

Robert Boston, assistant director of communications for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU), said students should not be encouraged to read Christian books and encouraged Bush to add non-religious books to the contest so students would have a choice.

"Our attorneys sent a letter to the governor and basically asked that the state not sponsor a contest that revolves around reading religious material," he told Family News in Focus.

David Hacker, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), called that accusation ridiculous.

"A lot of people would agree that it is a Christian allegory," he said. "But it's certainly not overt in any way."

Boston said if the governor persisted, AU would consider litigation, but Hacker said ADF is standing ready.

"Alliance Defense Fund is here to provide free legal representation for any school that gets threatened with lawsuits by Americans United or any of its allies," he said.

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