Students can pray or read the bible at appropriate times. They can't claim they can't take a test or do their homework because it's time to read the bible. My experience as a high school English teacher is generally the inverse of what I expected or others expect with regards to religion in public schools. Whenever we touch on religious symbolism, allegory, etc., the religious students seem to know the least (or indeed, get annoyed a novel may have the gall to draw on religious imagery, symbolism, etc.), while the nonreligious students don't care. Years ago I taught world lit to seniors, and there were a couple of very small bible passages in their anthology book. I seem to remember Psalm 23. The kids complained to their history teacher...THAT IT WAS TOO HARD TO READ. He told me to get a more modern translation. When I explained we were not reading it as a religious text, but as literature, I just get blank stares. Nowadays I teach "Of Mice and Men" to Honors 9th graders, and the religious students complain about the "goddamn" and "Jesus Christ" swearing, completely missing Steinbeck's emphasis on the fallen nature of man (something I thought they would recognize), and instead complaining that Steinbeck and the characters must not believe in god or they wouldn't swear so much. Good grief.

@greyeyed123 I agree about reading the bible but anyone can pray anywhere at anytime, even during a test...silently...and I'm sure many do just that.

@irascible I disagree.

@irascible They find "god" and then the "god gangs". Between the christians and muslims, they've got the prisons covered.
The christians have the Aryan Brotherhood, and the other christian cults.
The muslims have whatever they have.
They're just learning how to be better criminals, and they're networking.

@irascible Here's a couple, just to get you started.

[en.wikipedia.org]

[pewforum.org]

@irascible Turning to 'gawd' is the low hanging fruit people grab when they hit a wall attempting to change their behavior. I feel psychotherapy and a psychiatric evaluation should be the go-to primary method instead. They focus on the individual in a straightforward scientific manner. The gawd solution confuses those who are already confused, and all solutions will be filtered through a dogmatic middleman, diluting effectiveness and instilling disdain in areas that could in fact contain solutions.