Bible Bias?

In English class we have been discussing how the Bible could be taught in public schools. We read data from surveys on teaching the Bible, a TIME article, and even the first few chapters of Genesis. The statistics told us that more people want to see schools educating their students more on the Bible, the article suggested that teaching the Bible secularly, as a piece of literature, would be ideal. Reading Genesis for class, however, really gave me an idea (and yes, an opinion) on teaching the Bible in class.

I went to St. Norbert's Catholic School from kindergarten through eighth grade, so I'm familiar with the Bible. I'm familiar with how the Good Book has more or less dictated the teachings in the Catholic Church, too. I am not perfectly, unquestionably, blindly-accept-everything-I'm-told Catholic, though. When I read I think about the themes, the author's purpose or goals, and the speaker's beliefs. I almost always feel something, whether I agree or disagree. The Bible is primarily a religious text, but I still form opinions when I read it. I like the idea that we can earn salvation through virtuous living and pure intentions. I like that children are innocent and the God that Catholics follow cares enough about us to send his Son down here and set us straight, but I don't like that homosexuality is morally wrong, or that much more emphasis is places on women's fidelity to their husbands than vice versa. I am still at an utter loss as to why playing with pigskin is sinful, too. I think when I read, as I believe every student should, and this is what comes of it.

So when we read Genesis in English, I was thinking. Yes, teaching the Bible and considering its moral lessons in a public school is dangerous. If we agree too much with what the Bible says, we're too Christian. If we reject too many of the Bible's teachings, we're anti-Christian. Our class instead tried to identify which chapters were written by R and which were written by D. We identified literary devices and outlined each author's writing style. This is all perfectly in-bounds for teaching the Bible as a secular piece of literature, but there wasn't much thought or analysis going on (that didn't involve any sort of opinion on the Bible's content). How much further than that can we move without being potentially offensive? If we analyze themes or intent of the speaker in the Bible, we are giving it the same intensity of thought as we give other literature we read, but we are also dangling on the edge of being "too religious." If we avoid any analysis of religion with the Bible in class, we're being safe and secular, but lose much opportunity for analysis. Being too religious in the teaching of the Bible is an obvious problem, but being "too secular" is another potential problem. The Bible is, after all, a religious text, and leaving out any thought on connections to religion is essentially ignoring the primary purpose of the book.