Quote Originally Posted by petergabrielfan View Post
My understanding is that public schools can teach religious texts as literature, but not as gospel. I actually had an AWESOME AP/Advanced English teacher in high school that had a very interesting unit where we read snippets of the Bible, The Koran, The Torah, The Bhagavad Gita and several other religious texts. It was actually very interesting and I learned a lot. This was strictly for the sake of learning, not to push any particular agenda. I have heard of parents complaining about this sort of thing at other schools. You know, because, how dare the child learn something that doesn't conform to the parents' world view?
You are right, they can use religious texts as literature, just not gospel provided that the parents are able to see alternative projects/assignments for their children.

Religion/Spirituality and books will do some strange things to people. When I was working at the bookstore in my home town we would have a woman come in and buy the Satanic Bible and most of the books in the "New Age" section so she could throw them out, simply because she didn't want any child in town to see them. She would do this regularly.

To me this was a strange thing, because in my house growing up we had a rule about books. If you are old enough to read it, understand it or ask questions about it then go ahead. My Mother also worked in a bookstore when I was a young child so I had access to many things.

In all my life my mother has only ASKED not demanded that I not read one book. I was about 7, and my great grandmother had brought over a box of books and some how I had gotten my hands on a copy of Rosemary's Baby. When I started asking my Mom questions about the book she sat me down and said. "I would really prefer that you didn't read that book right now, I don't think you are ready for it."

The funny thing is... I just turned 28 yesterday, and that is one book I have never read. LOL

The shelves in my house now, well let's just say that in an earlier time could have gotten me hung, or burned at the stake. We have several translations of the Bible that sit next to the Koran, the Torah, and many other texts including the Book of Mormon, and texts on several different types of Paganism. We also have my cheesy Romance Novels that sit next to my DH's Quantum Field theory and other insanely difficult math books.

We Teach our children that no knowledge, no learning in this world is ever wasted. I was really glad to see this thread, because I love to see threads that can spark a discussion, and maybe some in depth thought over some of the things that most people don't even realize still happen.