Bible Trumping

According to state law, Texas public schools will now be required to offer Bible as literature courses if fifteen or more students express interest in taking them. While this seems like a gross violation of the establishment clause, let's play Jesus' advocate for a minute. It is true that an understanding of the Bible is critical to the appreciation of much of English literature. Without having at least a cursory knowledge of the King James Bible, it's tough to get all of Shakespeare's bawdy references. The rub, though, is that there are several works of literature that are important to a well-rounded education (the works of Homer, for instance), yet they aren't being made a requirement by law. It's obvious that this is just a backhanded, passive-aggressive, and cynical attempt to inject Christian religion into public schools. What are the chances that the poor English teachers and assistant football coaches forces to teach these classes have anything approaching a theology degree? If the marijuana legalization movement knew how to engage in these backhanded legal wranglings, Tommy Chong never would have been jailed. More details here.