I discovered the other day that my 17-year-old daughter, who is a 12th grader at a Washington-area public high school, was reading Genesis, Luke, Psalms and Job as part of a summer assignment for her A.P. English class. I'm glad. I wish she had also been assigned the Koran. This seems rather unlikely.
Nevertheless, this is the point. There is no way to understand Western Civilization, or Western history, or even Western literature without a reasonably extensive study of Biblical scripture.
This is true whether one is Christian, Jewish, or a non-believer. This is entirely apart from any study one might do as part of one's religious devotions. Anyone, Christian, Jew, atheist, or otherwise, must have an understanding of both New and Old Testament scripture or you do not understand Western Culture.
A study of the Koran is likewise legitimate and important. The objection is that the UNC is demanding a sympathetic study of the Koran while either rejecting any study of the Bible, or banishing its study to some "religious studies" Siberia.
There would be nothing wrong with likewise requiring some study of Bhuddist and Hindu texts. But not in an explicitly anti-Christian or anti-Jewish context, as is the norm in current US academia.
I agree with you. I don't have a problem at all with studying the beliefs and writings of various religions. But despite the fact that Christianity is an integral part of the history of Western Culture, I don't recall being assigned any Christian reading until I had an early American Lit class in college. When I was in high school, I remember the big taboo subjects were creationism, Christianity, and abortion. Because for some reason any discussion of Christian beliefs or values are too easily construed as preaching. College was someting different: at both junior colleges and universities there is a tacit understanding that the exploration of pretty much any pagan religion is encouraged over Christianity. And unfortunately, judging by how the number of young people I heard state that the Christian right is no better than the Taliban, there is a greater need for American kids to understand Christianity than to understand Islam.