In the late 1950s and early 1960s, wrote Joel Zakem, elementary schools in Newport, Kentucky, allowed Bible study.
“Once a week, my entire class would walk the three blocks from the school to St. John’s United Church of Christ, where (I suppose) someone from the church would provide lessons taken from the Bible,” he wrote. “Since, however, I was the only person in my class who opted out, I was made to sit alone in the classroom while others were being taught at a church. By law, I was not even allowed to go to the school library, lest I gain some unfair academic advantage over my absent classmates.”