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@tynan
Just about everything that can be campaigned against and opposed on religious grounds has at one stage been - and often successfully (we have of course unelected Bishops sitting in the House of Lords), drugs policy, pornography legislation, foreign policy, liscencing laws, schools policy, the stymying of embryonic stem cell research, rights of adoption, rights for homosexuals, women's rights, Sunday trading, access to contraception, sexual education, . . . . etc.
Randomly and off the top of my head . . . 12-13 years old girls can only receive the HPV vaccine (a triumph over cervical cancer in women) only if they do not receive safe sex advice at their school - this fantastic deal was struck between the Catholic Church and Scottish health officials. (The thinking here is that sexual education promotes promiscuity) . . . believe it or not Hassidic Jews are imposing road planning - based on superstition - across 14 blocks of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. . . being homosexual in any number of theocracies brings with it the death penalty, the noose being the chosen execution method . . . the rapid (and accelerating) growth of faith schools - where one must be a member of the faith to ensure a place - is continuing unhindered . . .the stymying of sexual education - through abstinence only programs - in the US has seen a blooming of sexually transmitted disease . . . the papal edict against condom use (and the naked lie that their use increases HIV transmission) is fuelling an AIDs catastrophe in Africa, killing millions and orphaning a generation . . . around the world plays are protested or simply closed down due to religious people's 'offence', publishers have their offices firebombed for considering publishing works that are offensive to religious people, newspapers now regularly check with religious groups before publishing anything of a religious nature, film makers are killed in the street, publicists of such material stabbed and left for dead, authors threatened with death . . . doctor's clinics protested and closed down . . . and so on.
Of course this is just the bad stuff - I would say on the whole we manage very well to keep a check on what religion tries to entitle itself to have a say over - but if given free reign I have no doubt that religion (some more than others) would seek to influence all parts of our lives.
It doesn't take much thought to understand that to make 'The Life of Brian' these days might bring with it much more controversy and 'offence' than surrounded it originally, to make a Islamic version 'The Life of Muhammad' (my idea, don't go stealin' it :P) would be very very difficult (at the low end) and a death sentence for any number of the crew and cast if things really got going. The writers of 'Father Ted' (a TV show no more than 11 years old) have said that they would certainly consider whether to make the series now in light of modern cultural sensitivities (basically every fucker is offended by everything, none more so that the religious) and in light of the new Irish Blasphemy laws. The point I am trying to make here is that this thing (religions influence over certain areas of society) is not dissipating, in some respects it is tightening.
Teach children about Jainism, Islam, Voodoo, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam . . . (and so on) - no problem, it would even be a good idea to put an emphasis on Christianity as it has - as you say - had the most impact on our culture.
But in a religious education class, not in biology or physics or geography.