The Washington Times reports that the Texas State Board of Education has given approval to establishing Bible classes in public high schools, as long as they meet “federal and state guidelines in maintaining religious neutrality.”

This is bound to be quite the task — faith comes by hearing, after all.

The study found most of the courses were explicitly devotional with almost exclusively Christian, usually Protestant, perspectives.

It also found that most were taught by teachers with no academic training in biblical, religious or theological studies and who were not familiar with the issues of separation of church and state.

“Some classes promote creation science. Some classes denigrate Judaism. Some classes explicitly encourage students to convert to Christianity or to adopt Christian devotional practices,” Mr. Chancey said. “This is all well-documented, and the board knows it.”

There is enough diversity within Christian thought that I’m not sure I could trust that just any “Christian” could represent Christianity properly. I would rather not have to undo fun things like millenialism or Christian Zionism.

I would be curious as to how a literature teacher would treat the Bible, without getting into truth claims.

This fall, my girls will be enrolled in a Lutheran private preschool where Bible verses are part of the curriculum. If this were to happen in a public school, families of other religions could request memorization of other religious books. Many religions would demand their fair share, paid for with your tax dollars, and they would have different standards of what offended them. Our religious teaching is best left to our homes, our churches, and church-sponsored private schools.