I taught HS for 30 years, and I can tell you that the kids are smarter than you are.

They'll read the Bible, alright... they'll read it and have questions. Leviticus should be a load of fun for them.

The contrasts between what people think they know about the Bible, and the actual long, boring, contradictory, barbaric tome are readily apparent... especially to young, inquiring minds.

They are going to rue the day they had kids "study" the Bible.

I was a student and later taught in the same school, offered a Bible History class. I don't have a problem with schools teaching bible history. Since I taught in the history department, I was sure to cover Islam, all flavors of Christianity, and Hindu in my World History/European History/US History classes. Guy that taught the bible history class was a great history teacher, on Sundays he also served as a Methodist minister in a small rural, church.

In practice, it might be a different story, but I'm not willing to throw something that is educational and useful just because there might be misuse.

My literature students have a very difficult time getting through some very significant texts due primarily to their lack of understanding when it comes to Biblical and historical allusions. It is difficult to teach Shakespeare or Chaucer when students have no idea about some of the underpinnings of those writers' philosophical structures. In fact, most of the time, even the random fundy student has only a surface level understanding of Biblical figures, stories or passages.

I know this isn't the intent of the legislation, but I'm counting on the law of unintended consequences (and the, pardon the pun, devilishness of some of the more intelligent students) will make these classes more intellectually satisfying.

You really can't absorb most of Western literature or art without it, which makes it impossible to get a good liberal arts education.

It would have to be done carefully, so as not to support either a specific interpretation, a specific belief, or a lack of belief. Although I'm not sure schools and school boards really want to get into the controversy that would result no matter it's taught.

To a lesser extent, a few religious texts, especially the Koran, could be incorporated.