A new bill from an Oklahoma state senator will protect public schools in the state from lawsuits by anti-Christian groups for teaching non-sectarian Bible classes.

Senator Kyle Loveless introduced Senate Bill 48 that will declare any school that offers a “religious elective” impervious to lawsuits.  The bill will allow “no liability as a result of providing an elective course in the study of religion or the Bible.”

The senator explained to a local newspaper that he was spurred to introduce the bill after anti-Christianists attacked the Mustang School District that had planned to offer an elective about the history of the Bible.

“The district projected that there were going to be between 20-30 students interested in the elective. In actuality, 180 students signed up,” he said. “They were extremely disappointed in having the class canceled.”

“I don’t see anything wrong [with a provision] that gives local school districts the ability to study the historical aspects of the Bible. That’s my reasoning for the bill. It is not a forced class and this would not be a ‘Sunday School’ type course. We are not endorsing one religion over the other,” he continued.

He says that there’s no violation of church and state to teach about the history of a historical religious book.