Bible Study in School Sounds the Secularist Alarm

By Rod Anderson, CP Cartoonist Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Americans United for Separation of Church and State argued that an Oklahoma bill that would protect school districts with Bible courses from legal action attempts to place a "loophole" in the law that would let public schools teach that the Bible is true.

Americans United expressed its opposition to Senate Bill 48 due to their concern that it would allow for Bible courses that advocate Christianity. Writing for the Americans United blog "Wall of Separation" on Wednesday, Sarah Jones argued that SB 48 was also unnecessary given current law.

"It's also already legal for public schools to offer truly objective elective courses on the Bible or religion," wrote Jones.

"And if Loveless' bill is an attempt to create a loophole for public schools to teach sectarian material, it's doomed to fail. It's well-established by the courts that as arms of our secular government, public schools are and must remain religiously neutral."