Schoolchildren in New Brunswick can once again receive religious material in class, but texts like the Bible can't be distributed freely as they had been for 60 years.

The Gideons, a Christian group that hands out Bibles to hotel rooms and hospitals, had been distributing copies of the New Testament to Grade 5 students for 60 years before a school board policy changed stopped the practice in 2003.

In lifting the province-wide ban Thursday, Education Minister Claude Williams said the Gideons will only be allowed to hand out Bibles if the material is first approved by him and an annual application is filed.

Other religious groups who want their texts handed out in school can also apply.

Pastor Jay Guptill told CTV Atlantic he praises the move.

"I think there's a lot of good that can come from reading God's word," he said.

"People in New Brunswick are interested in values and they want to consider not only values, but morals, and certainly that's one good thing that we can learn from the Bible."

Parent Scott Agnew, who helped put the past ban in place, feels children shouldn't be exposed to religion at school.

"That's just not OK in my book," he said. "When it's just one religion (being handed) out, it's basically propaganda in the school system, and that's not OK."

With a report from CTV Atlantic's Jodi Cooke