I wouldn't have a problem with teaching the literary value of their sacred texts, they are quite poetic and entertaining. (Sanskrit is quite the ideal scientific language.)
Only the required group practice of the religion would not be welcomed, but individuals should be allowed to do so freely if that is their chosen path, outside of classroom instruction.
Now, if you want to introduce Islam; that is not a religion, that is a criminal organization who recruits inside of state and federal penitentiaries and blows Atheist, Jewish, Christian, Hindi and Buddhist people up all over the world...
Thanks for pinging me.
The very essence of the Vedic literatures is free will. Limited by karma, of course. Bhakti yoga is the highest level of God realization, and it is founded entirely on love, the essence of which is freedom. We are free to choose our direction; but once chosen, must follow the tracks we've laid down, so to speak. But every moment gives a new choice.
Personally, if there have to be public schools, my viewpoint is that every religion (within reason; for instance, Papua New Guinea witchcraft - no, other than as anthropological anomaly) should be taught, not as proselytization, but perhaps by a practicing member of that religion. Bring 'em all in, one at a time, for a Comparative Religion course. What would be the harm? Just from a cultural point of view. Why should kids (probably middle or high school kids) not know the religions of the world?
When I first read the Bible, I couldn't believe how much of it I had heard before. It's part of our cultural heritage, whether we want to believe it is divinely inspired or not. To not have read the Bible is to be culturally illiterate. And anyone who is slightly philosophically interested is depriving themselves if they don't read the Bhagavad Gita.