Legislatures from the Bible Belt to the Dakotas are mulling bills that would establish biblical literacy courses in high schools, but some education analysts say classes focusing on the Bible’s cultural and historical relevance already are offered in public schools in those states and elsewhere.
An education official in Indiana said students in the state have been able to study Bible-based literature for some time. Nearly a third of high schools in Iowa offered religious education courses last year, an official there said.
When Kentucky lawmakers overwhelmingly passed state Rep. DJ Johnson’s bill to standardize rules for social studies classes in 2017, some school districts had long been teaching Bible literacy in their high schools.
