Evangelicals want to destroy the wall of separation between church and state and use public schools and public funds to indoctrinate others. we have seen this in many states, such as Texas, where Governor Abbott is using billionaire money to enable the state to pay for indoctrination of more students in religious schools.
One unusually active religious group is called Lifewise Academy. A friend in New Jersey wrote to tell me that parents are pushing back.
She wrote:
“LifeWise Academy has ambitious plans which take advantage of Zorach v. Clauson to pull kids out of public school classes, bringing them off campus for “bible studies.” In Ocean City, NJ, near where I live, an Evangelical Church is fighting to have the school board accept it. This map shows the scope of LifeWise’s current efforts
There is a grassroots movement to push back against these changes. https://parentsagainstlifewise.online/
Here is a recording of an informative zoom they conducted with NJ activists https://vimeo.com/1033697670/83f2dd97ea
Peter Greene writes here about the financial success of Lifewise Academy in Ohio.
He writes:
Christianists continue doing their best to force public education to bend to their brand of faith. In Ohio, legislators are now trying to create a whole new church-issued Get Out Of School Free card.
It has long been an option for schools to release students from school for part of the day to receive religious instruction, and districts have chosen to exercise that option or not as they see fit. The bill proposed on Ohio makes one simple change–instead of “may,” the law would read “shall.”
In other words, if parents demand their child be released for religious instruction, the schools must comply.
A key focus has been LifeWise Academy, an organization that has been capitalizing on the original Supreme Court ruling by delivering Bible study during the school day. Their focus is called The Gospel Project, and it is aimed at encouraging “true transformation that comes only from the gospel, not from behavior modification.” Every session is “doctrinally sound and thorough,” though whose doctrine, exactly, it follows is not made clear.
LifeWise is the brainchild of Joel Penton, who was a defensive tackle for the Ohio State football team. He graduated in 2007 (BA in Communications and Media Studies), then after what appears to be a two year gap, Penton got into the Christian Speakers Biz, starting Relevant Speakers Network, Stand for Truth Outreach, and LifeWise Academy, all based in Hilliard, Ohio.
Stand for Truth was an earlier version of the release time Bible study model as well as school assemblies, with a filed purpose of assisting “youth, youth organizations, schools and churches by providing seminars, educational materials, inspirational and motivational materials, books and other programs to help youth reach their full potential.”
The LifeWise 990 shows that it is, for legal purposes, a Stand for Truth under a new name, with the purpose unchanged. At SfT, Penton was drawing an $87K salary to handle a million-and-a-half dollar budget. The 2022 990 for LifeWise shows Penton with $41K in salary and $69K in other compensation, while LifeWise is handling $13 mill on revenue (more than double 2022) from “contributions, gifts, grants” and paying almost $6 mill in employee benefits and compensation to… I don’t know. The only other paid officials listed are Steve Clifton (COO) with $108K salary and $57K other, and treasurer David Kirkey with $31K salary. Almost $5 mill is listed as other salaries and wages, including program service expenses. They list no lobbying expense, but some mid-six figure numbers for advertising, office expenses, and travel. In all they took in almost $14 mill and spent about $9.5 mill.
Board members include Rev. Stephen Hubbard, pastor at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Logan, Ohio; Brad Hulls, a real estate agent “and remodeling specialist” from Columbus. Figuring in the group’s history is Tim Stoller, a founding board member for Cross Over The Hill, an organization with a similar message. It was Stoller who approached Penton, leading to a combining of Stand for Truth and Cross Over The Hill to form LifeWise Academy.
LifeWise has expanded to multiple states, and it’s their work that the new Ohio bill is primarily aimed at, by requiring every school in Ohio to offer a LifeWise option (or something like it).
LifeWise has not experienced large growth by playing softball. One school board member recounted a story of being approached by LifeWise, first pleasantly, and then with veiled threats about re-election. “As a church, we can’t endorse political candidates, but we can educate people.” And last summer LifeWise got in a big fight with an Indiana father who volunteered for the group so that he could gain access to their materials, which he then posted on his website. LifeWise took him to court.The parent made a point that ought to be familiar to the culture panic crowd–that parents ought to be able to review the materials that were being used with students. LifeWise has also gone after a manwho created a map showing the locations of LifeWise schools.
The Akron Beacon Journal is among those opposing the proposed law, calling it “a dangerous crack forming in the wall that separates church and state.
The article continues. To finish reading, please open the link.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
”MARYSVILLE, Ohio — The Satanic Temple Group will offer a program for students at Edgewood Elementary School in Marysville.
The program, called Hellion Academy of Independent Learning or “HAIL,” will fall under the district’s released time for religious instruction policy. That means students can opt out of regular classes to participate.”
https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/education/satanic-temple-group-offer-program-at-marysville-school/530-ae23408b-b8ae-408b-a360-ac1cef2aa13d. 12/3/2024
I ask again. How does one love, respect and LEARN from a community of grownups in a Democracy who allow this to happen? Political warfare waged atop the bodies and brains of children and youth.
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A message from the New Jersey Public Education Coalition (NJPEC)
PO Box 4451, Wayne, NJ 07474
Email: info@njpecoalition.org
Website: http://www.njpecoalition.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/njpec
“X” formerly Twitter: @njpecoalition
LifeWise is trying to make New Jersey it’s next target. The Zoom meeting referenced in the blog post conducted by SWEEP NJ is enlightening. The New Jersey Public Education Coalition (NJPEC) is collaborating with SWEEP NJ to begin the fight against LifeWise and to education not only parents but BOE members about the insidious way that LifeWise gets their Evangelical indoctrination grip on unsuspecting parents and children.
Some issues to consider and information as we know it
Basic Information: LifeWise is an evangelical Christian program that hopes to involve as many students as possible in their RTRI program which would pull students out of school during school time for religious education.
Liability: If a child is injured during transport or during the program who is liable? Will the district be sued?
Background checks: Staff does not undergo FBI or SBI background checks or fingerprinting? One person they were going to hire as a director turned out to have been charged with sexting a student.
Education Training of Staff: Are staff even trained education professionals or even have an education degree? Generally not.
Disruption of the School Day: Unlike the handful of small RTRI programs that take a few students once a week, this program aims to enroll as many students as possible and disrupt the school day.
What about students who don’t attend: What classes will children miss and how will this affect the education of children who don’t participate? Their education may be compromised.
Hidden Curriculum: Will all parents be able to view the complete LifeWise curriculum? Right now they are sing an individual who publicly published their curriculum? What are they hiding?
Privacy Concerns: The privacy of student information is protected and cannot be shared by the schools. The program could ask parents for the information but if the parents fail to provide a piece of medically important information what happens and who is responsible if there is a medical incident during the LifeWise program?
Special Needs Accommodations: Many students have accommodations in the form of 504 plans and IEPs. LifeWise has indicated they may not be able to accommodate this and are not required to because they are a “religious organization.”
Alignment with Project 2025 Goals: LifeWise has aligned itself with Project 2025 developers and supporters calling for the elimination of the pubic school system.
Reach out to us for more information and questions.
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The school day is packed with academics. Most students are too busy handling their courses during the school day to insert religion as well. Isn’t religion is what churches and temples are for? The second consideration is a matter of security. Teachers and support personnel have been vetted by school districts, and they are licensed and certified to work with students in public schools. One Likewise representative in the post was sexting a student. By allowing unvetted people to have access to students, the school district is exposing itself to the risk liability claims and perhaps other legal entanglements for a failure to keep students safe. This program is reckless and unfair to those that have no interest in having religion in public schools.
Ocean City is one of the quaintest little seaside towns in New Jersey. Founded by the Methodists, it has always been a wholesome family resort where no liquor is available in the city limits. I spent many childhood vacations in Ocean City.
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Freedom FROM Religion
The constitutional principle of a “wall of separation” between government and religion in America goes back even far further than our 1797 Constitution: Already back in 1635, Roger Williams, founder of the Rhode Island Colony, declared that a “wall of separation” must forever separate American government from any religion. In Thomas Jefferson’s famous 1802 letter to the Connecticut Baptist Convention, Jefferson quoted Williams’ “wall of separation” phrase to explain the meaning of The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
Jefferson, author of our Declaration of Independence, also compiled his own version of the Bible, known as The Jefferson Bible, that basically treated Jesus as an admirable philosopher, but not divine. Jefferson’s non-Christian edition of the Bible became widely popular in the new United States, and for decades every new member of Congress was given a copy of The Jefferson Bible when sworn in to Congress.
Our Founding Fathers’ insistence on separating government from any and all religion came about because England had imposed mandatory Anglican church membership in the colonies for anyone who wanted to participate in government; so, although many of our Founding Fathers were Deists, not Christians, they were compelled to join the official British government’s Christian Anglican religion in order to be able to vote or take any part in government.
James Madison, whom we honor with the title “Father of our Constitution” because so many of our Constitution’s key principles are derived from his ideas, wrote that “the purpose of the separation of church and state is to keep forever from our shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries”.
That bloody “ceaseless strife” of religious war in Europe was well known to Madison and to our nation’s other Founding Fathers because they had recent ancestors who had suffered and been killed because of the endless warfare between Christian religions throughout Europe during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Those centuries of bloodshed and misery followed the Protestant Reformation which led to the establishment of dozens of warring Protestant religions, none of which agreed with each other in their dogma, and all of which disagreed with the Catholic church.
Thousands upon countless thousands of people died as each Christian religion tried to force their version of religious beliefs on the others.
George Washington, whom we honor with the title “Father of our Nation”, was in complete agreement with the Establishment Clause and wrote that “the United States government is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” He was compelled to attend Anglican church services but never took Communion because he refused to be that hypocritical.
Today, some who argue against the separation of church and state claim that when the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause says that government shall make no law “respecting the establishment of religion” it means only that the government shall not establish a religion and that government is free to provide all manner of support for existing religions. However, in the grammatical syntax of the time in which the First Amendment was written, the phrase “the establishment of religion” refers to “established religions”, not to establishing a government religion. Written in the grammatical syntax of our current times, the First Amendment would state that the government shall make no law “respecting established religions”.
Correctly read, and knowing the intent of Our Founding Fathers which they clearly expressed, the First Amendment provides Americans with freedom FROM religion.
And yet, today, self-righteous religious zealots — some of whom are even on the U.S. Supreme Court — are driving our nation toward a time of bloody religious warfare in America; warfare that will divide and weaken our nation and allow our enemies abroad to destroy us. That destructive division is already on the stage with the demands that The Ten Commandments be posted in schools and public places and that public schools must teach the Bible: The coming conflict looms with the question of whose version of the Ten Commandments will be displayed and whose version of the Bible will be taught.
Protestants and Catholics each have their own version of the Ten Commandments and their own version of the Bible. Whose version of the Commandments and whose version of the Bible would be posted and taught in public schools?
In the Protestant version of the Commandments, the Second Commandment says that it is sinful to make “graven images”, such as statues — the Catholic version of the Commandments says nothing about graven images, so Catholic churches are filled with statues of Mary and the saints. Will Catholic children in public schools be shamed by their classmates as sinful because Catholic churches contain statues of Mary and the saints?
If America doesn’t remain true to the constitutional rule established by Our Founding Fathers that our government must be separated from all religion by a solid wall, bloody conflict will ultimately follow…and a weakened America will then be conquered by its international enemies.
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Not all evangelicals are the same. the faction knocking down those walls are linked to the Heritage Foundation and Hillsdale College.
They are also known as Christian Nationalists. Before 1979, many if not all of that sect of Evangelicals were members of the Ku Klux Klan.
It was after 1979, when the SPLC sued the KKK and other targeted organizations, bankruptcy them, that KKK member reinvented themselves through the religious sect they already belong to becoming the Christian nationalists they are today.
“The Ku Klux Klan, with its long history of violence, is the oldest and most infamous of American hate groups. Although Black Americans have typically been the Klan’s primary target, adherents also attack Jewish people, persons who have immigrated to the United States, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.” …
“Most iterations of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) continued to decline in 2023, coupled with efforts by certain factions to rebrand and reinvent themselves…”
The Christian nationalists that make up most of Trump’s MAGA Cult are the result of that rebranding.
Ku Klux Klan | Southern Poverty Law Center
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Just for the record, [concerned as a New Jerseyan], I find nothing on the internet that suggests Lifewise has actually entered any NJ public schools. They are knocking at the door, and groups are organizing to keep them out.
But let’s get down to: what is it, and why is it a problem? When I was in jr high [early 1960s], Catholic kids left every Wed at 2:30 (early – instead of 3:10] for “Religious,” i.e., weekly religious class held at the downtown Catholic church, located 1 block walk from either of our two Jr highs. No biggie.
Why didn’t we have it in elementary school? Perhaps because the majority of them were outside “downtown,” where (a)few kids in the outlying rural areas were Catholic, and (b)that would have reqd bus transp, which the church (or schools?) couldn’t afford. It was easy in jr highs of those days, which included a daily study hall, often at end of day– or if not, easily enough scheduled for kids who needed that time on Wednesdays.
Wiki/ AI says this sort of program (based on RTRI law 1952) can be 1-hr weekly or even daily, but is not very common in public schools today. In the wiki article listing state participants, OH is in fact the only one with a big list of participating districts. (Couldn’t even find out whether my own NJ district has this program – I suspect not – there’s a good Catholic K-8 school in town that is well attended; that’s probably the option those who want it go for…)
Watching the linked video, I found 3 disturbing things:
1.The program targets elementary schools, which do not have study halls, nor any necessarily “disposable” hours. IF this is a daily program, you’re going to have a bunch of kids missing recess or art or music or gym. (Perhaps even an academic class.)
2.The guy who organized the pushback found his daughter put in the gym in a “study hall” — in 2nd grade!
3.The experience of both organizers: fancy invitations from kids in the program to classmates/ friends: “Jimmy” (your friend) wants you to join his Lifewise class. This is absolutely against the 1952 law.
4.Pushback organizers eventually learned through determined research that the Lifewise curriculum is straight from the Southern Baptist Convention. Lifewise advertises it as anodyne Bible lessons for Christians in general. Yet one of organizers says it’s fundamentalist in nature, and teachers are instructed to say (if it comes up in discussion — for elemsch kids!) that yes, if your parents are same sex, or unmarried, etc “they’re living in sin.”
I could stomach that if this were– like religious classes for Catholic kids– promoted honestly as religious lessons for fundamentalist Baptists, born-again Christians, whatever (some accurate description). But organizers say the documents they got a hold of on curriculum target “kids who don’t go to church.” It’s proselitization during school hours.
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