Maine State Court (1854) in the case of Donahue v. Richards, 38 Me. 398 (Me. 1854), stated:
<The common schools are not for the purpose of instruction in the theological doctrines of any religion or of any sect....No interference, by way of
instruction, with the views of the scholars, whether derived from parental or sacerdotal authority, is shown. The Bible was used merely as a book in which instruction in reading was given. But reading the Bible is no more an interference with religious belief than would reading the mythology of Greece or Rome be regarded as interfering with religious belief or affirming the pagan creeds. A chapter in the Koran might be read, yet it would not be an affirmation of the truth of Mohammedanism, or an interference with religious faith.> 1854ME001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1854ME001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Maine Court, 1854, in the case of Donahue v. Richards, 38 Me. 398 (Me. 1854), pp. 389-399. Elizabeth Ridenour, Public Schools-Bible Curriculum (Greensboro, N.C.: National Council On Bible Curriculum, 1996), p. 35. Robert K. Skolrood, The National Legal Foundation, letter to National Council on the Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, Sept. 13, 1994, p. 7.