^^Comparative religion, the basic tenets, and including the rich subject of older cultures' myths and creation ideations should be thought. For one, it does provide moral guidance, which is sorely needed in our societies, and also facilitates tolerance toward others.
For those who believe that every holy book is written by God personally, or dicated personally, I suggest that they get familiar with finding about all the ingermingling or various religious ideas, beliefs, practices, starting to thousands of years ago. Some of the sacred texts that were written down probaly were passed down orally initially, as some still are, for example, in the Karmapa sect of Buddhism in Tibet.
At any rate, ideas get around, and there is cross-fertilization at times. This does not invalidate any religions, because here are always very valuable insights and lessons, many of which, like metaphors and parables, do a better job to getting to the heart of the matter.
Today's young people, at least many of them, have no religious ideas at all, or spiritual ideas. On the other hand, some of the fundemantlist believers adhere too literally to written texts.
It does take a wider understanding to see what are the all time applicable principles and guiding morals,and those that were meant in particular for that time.
The idea of a total lack of religious, spiritual knowledge is scary. And by the way, I consider atheism a religion, too. Not because I criticise them for not believing, but because they are so insistent, so quick, to respond any idea of any religions whatsoever. That is a belief, too, otherwise, they could shrug it off.
However, the country should not be under the sway of any one religion. Most of our laws come from customs, and those also come from religious beliefs and attitudes, and that should suffice. The main aim of major religions, and many of their lesser or smaller branches, is to directly appeal to each individual, as someone a few posts back had said.
Some basic principles of religion, myths, spirituality, should be presented in elementary school, and then in high school, and certainly they shoul be available at college level. In fact, I think that for many professions, this kind of course should be mandatory: i.e., medical, law, diplomatic oriented courses, business administration courses, and so on.