LifeWise is a ministry that is an extension of Stand For Truth Ministries, a fundamentalist group headed by Joel Penton, a former Ohio State football player. This group (LifeWise) promotes a “bible-believing” curriculum that is meant to be used during the school day as religious release time. They will find a willing church or purchase a house close enough for students to walk, although some places students are bussed. This is constitutional, surprisingly. In 1948, the Supreme Court found this to be unconstitutional because a public school in Champagne, IL was too involved in the program. This was overturned in 1952; a New York case was allowed to continue as long as no tax money or school personnel were involved, the program was off-site, and parental permission was given. Opposition has been given in every community based on concerns about lost time in the classroom.
Full disclosure: in Cincinnati and Reading, I participated in, and led a program called “The Breakfast Club” which taught Christian values and ethics to early elementary children. In fact, I used the one group to produce my Doctor of Ministry product. We held both of these programs off-site and got parental permission. The difference is that we did them before school; no class time was taken away from the children involved. The food was paid for by the churches involved, and volunteers from the congregations were the leaders. We made sure that we walked that line between religion and public funding.
It seems to me that this concept of Release Time for religious education needs to be revisited. In a Reading Eagle article from this past Monday, one parent who was interviewed said that sometimes baseball got in the way of church and Christian education on Sunday morning, so having a couple of hours during the school week helped them make up for this. So – let me get this straight – you would rather have your child miss school than miss baseball? Does anyone else think that this is hypocritical? This is just one example of the parenting problem we have been suffering from for at least 40 years. If you say you are a religious and spiritual person, why would you choose sports over your faith? And don’t try to tell me that all organized religion is bad – there are plenty of healthy congregations teaching respect and morality and love. And if you want that extra religious teaching, why not do it before or after school?
I think that school boards should make Release Time for this purpose very narrow; they should only allow a limited time – including transportation – once a week. They should also open this up to all religions; yes, that includes groups you and I might not want in our schools, like the After School Satan Clubs and the Pastafarians (they are kind of fun, actually). Let’s recognize what LifeWise really is: a Trojan Horse – a Christian Supremacist attempt to bring Fundamentalist Christian faith into the public schools. They are using the Constitution for their own needs, so maybe we should do likewise.
Prayer – Holy God, forgive us when we weaponize our faith and use it in manipulative and sneaky way. Teach us to tell the truth. Amen.