COEUR D'ALENE -- A lawsuit out of southern Idaho is raising heated debate over the use of bibles in public schools.
Many high schools use the bible in a historical or literary way, but according to the Idaho State Constitution that's illegal.
This debate started down in Nampa, Id., where a charter school said it would use religious texts from the bible in the classroom. When a commission said no, the matter went to court. The problem is, what happens there could affect almost every school in the state.
The Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy is one of the top 100 schools in the U.S. Part of the 9th grade Ancient Literature curriculum is the bible.
"We use it as a not only historical text but also as background for a lot of literature we read," said school principal Dan Nicklay. It's far from the only religious text used in the classroom. "Daoism, Hinduism, we read the Koran even some atheist texts. We are here to provide our kids a well-rounded education," said Nicklay.
Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy is a public school. Religion and public schools tend to cause controversy. "We use it pretty much the same way any other school uses it and how it's used in the majority of schools in the state and in the country," said Nicklay.
That's where the debate begins. There is a federal legal precedent that allows religious texts in public classrooms for historical and literary use. But the Idaho Constitution plainly says the opposite.
Article 9, Section 6; "no books, papers, tracts or documents of a political, secterian or denominational character shall be used or introduced in any schools."
"This is a widespread practice. I've never been in a school where they didn't use sacred texts at some level," said Nicklay.
The issue is now at the center of a lawsuit against the state department of education. "Our entire reason for being here is to make kids think and help them understand the world around them. That's what literature does," said Nicklay.
Education officials in Boise, Id. could not comment on this because of the ongoing lawsuit. Districts in North Idaho we contacted all said they use the bible in high school literature classes.
