Boston.com: Will Public Schools in Texas Teach the Talmud Next?

The question about whether the Texas schools will teach the Talmud was of course raised tongue in cheek in the course of a discussion cited by boston.com from another discussion at reddit.com.

We opine (also ironically) that at least if the schools in Texas taught the Talmud, the children would learn some critical reasoning. No skills are inculcated when you teach children Bible stories.

The discussion following the post by Lylah M. Alphonse on the subject over at boston.com's Moms page is utterly enlightening, containing this morsel.

...I think it's fair to say that American history, politics, and even pop culture has been informed by Christianity and the Bible. But in today's multi-cultural, global society, where's the push to teach students about other religions? As a commenter at Reddit.com wrote: "I look forward to Texas schools offering classes on the Talmud, Q'uran, Tao Te Ching, LaVey's Satanic Bible, Dianetics, Eastern Orthodox Bible, Wicca, and Atheist/Agnostic texts as well. Wait, they're not doing that? Hmm."

That might be pushing it a bit, but still: Isn't it equally important that high school students in Texas have an understanding of how other religions have shaped the rest of the world?...