There are several good points made so far, and I’d just like to throw in a bit more. If this class is truly from a historical point of view, then it might not be as damaging as I thought. If it focuses on historical evidence, such as artifacts and archaeology then it is off to a much better start than the basic presupposition the bible maintains throughout which is basically, if it is written in here, then it is true just because. I still think this opens the door to the fundamentalists who want their idiocy to replace real history and science classes though. There is so much that science can explain now that they attributed to god 2000 years ago. Think about how much more people will know about life 2000 years from now. Hopefully by that time Christianity will have run its course and they won’t be having this kind of argument. Actually, I’m glad I had to take bible classes all through school, because it gave me so much evidence to cite when I argue about how evil Christianity is. I think they should offer philosophy classes though. Pay no attention to the fact that that’s what my undergrad degree is in. Even if there was just a two semester set, a basic introduction to the Greeks, and a quick run through the highlights of the rationalists and the (far wiser) empiricists. The beauty of this is that the students are exposed to more ideas. If you agree, write a paper in defense of the argument; if you disagree, write a paper attacking it. I just like the idea of people taking classes where they have to confront their beliefs and examine them in order to either make them stronger or tear them now and replace them with something more sensible.