IN THEORY:Can public schools offer religion classes to educate?

Boston University professor Steve Prothero has written a book, "Religious Literacy," due out soon that contends that although more than 90% of Americans say they believe in God, just a smattering of them know basic facts about religion. For instance, he said, most people could not name the first five books of the Old Testament. Prothero argues that in today's world it's important that people know more about religion, and he proposes that religion be taught in public schools. Prothero says the classes should aim to educate, not proselytize. Do you think it's possible to include religion in a public school education without it violating separation-of-church-and-state principles?

Knowledge is always good. The truth shall set you free, as the saying goes. But the fact that many people who claim to believe in the Christian God cannot name the first five books of the Old Testament, as author Prothero regrets and supposedly uses as a justification for his new book, "Religious Literacy," does not seem to be particularly important in the overall scheme of things or a decent reason to teach religion in public schools.

But, admittedly, it would be good to teach not religion but about religion. That means about all religions, not just Christianity. And about all aspects of religions. How and where and why the different religions were created by mankind. How extremely different they are, but how similar they are in other ways. How religions developed over the years, how their sacred books (Torah, Talmud, Bible, Koran, Bhagavad-Gita, Dhammapada, Tao Te Ching, Vedas, Upanishads, etc. ) were originally written, translated and modified over the years. What language scholars say regarding the accuracy of the translations made along the way. Why some people find comfort in believing that there is some God up there in the sky that they can pray to, ask for help, so that they can somehow justify not trying to solve their problems themselves. And why, for instance, some people can believe that every word in the Bible is sacred and must be taken literally in spite of the questionable provenance of many of the original sources and the questionable accuracy of the language translations. And why so many people who don't really know anything about their religion are so convinced of its truth — and the untruth of all other religions.