What guidelines have the courts given for teaching the Bible in the public schools?
The Supreme Court did not forbid the teaching of any part of the Bible. No event in the Bible, no word, was censored. Their concern was only in how the parts would be taught. The major issue regarding the use of the Bible in public schools becomes, not if it may be taught, nor if it should be taught, but how it may be taught in an academically responsible way. To repeat Justice Clark, Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment. Justice Goldberg, when giving his concurring opinion regarding the Shempp case, said: It seems clear to me … that the Court would recognize the propriety of … teaching about religion, as distinguished from the teaching of religion, in the public schools. It is not information itself that the court has banned but the imposition of information–teaching for the purpose of belief or conversions. In
