... separation of church and state is a great thing
I agree. That's why I asked that question. In my country they try to include Sepulture lessons into secondary schools curriculum (the decision has not been made yet, but this question has been arising reguraly for the last few years). I think that this is a huge setback, and I was very surprised at the large number of people who supports this idea.

Even if there are no marks and exams as they promise, mandatory learning of "Christian values" is still against freedom of religion! And I consider atheists to be equal to a religious group too. After all they believe that God does not exist, and have a right to demand that their kids won't be taught otherwise.

I guess there's a possibility to make these classes optional, but I think that it's better to organise Sunday schools in this case, and not to mix religion and secular schools together.

Public schools do not teach religious classes per se (but some universities have classes about religions),
Yes, we have classes on history of religion too, and it's a useful course, but it's not the same as studying Bible.

When one of these books was about islam there was a big to-do from the right. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=& ... =&gs_rfai=
I wonder why. Even if so many people despise or fear islam what's happened to "Know your enemy"?
But I think that Carolina Univercity found the best way out of the situation:
The Carolina Summer Reading Program amended is requirements after the dispute arose. They state that: "Although the summer reading is required, if any students or their families are opposed to reading parts of the Qur'an because to do so is offensive to their own faith, they may choose not to read the book. These students should instead complete their one-page response on why they chose not to read the book."
~ to be continued...