(RNS) A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that found a Missouri school district unconstitutionally permitted distribution of Bibles to elementary schoolchildren in their classrooms.

But the court ruled that the South Iron R-1 School District in Iron County, Mo., can enact a new policy permitting “any printed material” approved by the superintendent to be distributed outside classroom time.

“The policy itself applies to all persons or groups wishing to distribute literature to students, not just to Bible distribution by the Gideons,” wrote Chief Judge James B. Loken in the unanimous decision by the three-member panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

Members of The Gideons International, an evangelical organization that donates Bibles to various institutions, had given Bibles to the district’s fifth graders for about three decades, the court said.

Given the dual decision, the court’s action prompted an unusual positive reaction from legal groups that often oppose each other.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State welcomed the decision preventing school-day distribution of Bibles.

“As a Christian minister, I don’t have a problem with the Bible,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Washington-based Americans United. “But I do have a big problem with government officials who try to impose religion on schoolchildren. They have no right to do that.”

Liberty Counsel, meanwhile, hailed the court’s ruling on the new literature policy, which was adopted on the eve of a hearing about the Gideon Bible distribution.

“We are pleased that the new equal-access policy can finally go into effect,” said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, which is based in Orlando, Fla. “The Bible cannot be singled out for special penalties like contraband.”