The Kentucky Senate has approved two bills aimed at creating an elective course on the Bible in public schools and protecting religious freedom in the state.

S.B. 278, approved by the state Senate with a 35-3 vote on March 14, requires "the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations to establish an elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible, the New Testament, or a combination of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament of the Bible."

It says the course should "provide students knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory, and public policy; (and) permit students to use various translations of the Bible for the course."

Sen. Robin Webb, the bill's sponsor, said the measure will "allow Bible literacy courses in the form of a social studies elective."

"This bill would not have religious connotation as much as a historical connotation," she said.

Under the bill, the course "shall not endorse, favor, or promote, or disfavor or show hostility toward, any particular religion or nonreligious faith or religious perspective."

Webb told The Independent that she's "happy to see this bill moving forward. I had a Bible class in high school and it was very beneficial to me from a historical position."

The Senate also passed a bill that will allow business owners to refuse serving gays and lesbians on the grounds of religious beliefs.

S.B. 180, passed with a 22-16 vote, establishes protected activities, activity provider and protected rights and prohibits "any statute, regulation, ordinance, order, judgment, of other law or action by any court, commission, or other public agency from impairing, impeding, infringing upon, or otherwise restricting the exercise of protected rights by any protected activity provider."

The "provider" will be insulated from being fined, imprisoned, held in contempt or punished for refusing to provide services "unless a court finds that the complaining person or the government proved by clear and convincing evidence that a compelling governmental interest in infringing upon the act or refusal to act existed and the least restrictive means was used."

Sen. Joe Bowen voted for the bill because "this is a live-and-let-live piece of legislation," the Courier-Journal reported.

According to The Advocate, Kentucky has no anti-discrimination law on sexual orientation or gender identity. However, eight cities in the state have it: Lexington, Louisville, Covington, Morehead, Frankfort, Danville, Midway, and Vicco.

Lead sponsor Republican Sen. Albert Robinson earlier said the bill's intent is to protect businesses that don't want to serve same-sex weddings, LGBT pride festival or other LGBT events.

"All of these business owners want to treat everyone with full human dignity and respect," Robinson said. "But their consciences and religious beliefs prevent them from using their skills to promote a celebration that runs counter to what the Bible teaches about marriage. Shouldn't their rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion be respected?"

Democrats currently have a 53-47 majority in the state House.