Tennessee's public school students are legally safe to learn about the Bible's impact on literature, art and politics so long as the lessons aren't sermons, a new opinion from the state's Attorney General says.

The judgment, released Tuesday, also declares that a pending legislative bill that would authorize the state to create a nonsectarian Bible elective curriculum passes constitutional muster.

A handful of Tennessee school districts already know that. At least four, including Wilson County, offer such a class approved by the state Department of Education as a special course that counts as a social studies or literature elective.

Still, bill sponsor Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, said he requested a legal opinion to send a clear message that an academic, nonreligious Bible class has a place in public classrooms.

"It was not out of my doubt in its constitutionality; it was out of a commitment to making it certain that none can deny its constitutionality," Herron said.