Discussion of a proposal to allow West Virginia public schools to offer elective courses on the Bible took a disturbing turn recently in the House of Delegates. It came when a Malco Cohen, a third-grader in Charleston, testified before the House Education Committee.

“My little brother and I are the only Jewish kids at our school,” Cohen testified. “One day last year at my after-school program, the teachers taught us about Jesus and made us pledge allegiance to the Bible. It made me feel very worried and concerned. I felt like I was doing something wrong.”

Later, “They said me and my little brother shouldn’t have been there while they were teaching about the Bible and Jesus,” the very brave little boy said. “They said from now on, they would send me and my little brother to a room by ourselves when they talked about the Bible and Jesus.”

Then Cohen asked the legislators, “How would you feel if you were sent to a room all by yourself just because you were Jewish?”

In all likelihood, HB 4780, permitting county school boards to offer elective courses on the Bible, will be approved by the House of Delegates this week. Regardless of whether it is enacted, what legislators heard ought to trouble them — and other Mountain State residents.

No child should be made to feel as if he or she “was doing something wrong” because of religion. How would any of us feel, at any age, if we were told to leave a group and go to another room because we were Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian or of any other denomination?

Surely we are creative and thoughtful enough to teach about various faiths without making children feel as if the one their parents chose is, somehow, unacceptable.

No doubt some will dismiss Malco Cohen by noting that he did not go to the Capitol on his own. Some adult or adults convinced him to do so. But the lad’s unease at what happened to him appears to have been very real — and it should upset other West Virginians.

Good for him for reminding us that sometimes, with the very best of intentions, we do the wrong thing — and need to be told so we can do better in the future.