A non-profit organization called LifeWise Academy provides Bible instruction to children in government schools under a released-time off-premises religious education program.
The program is legal, but school board members in Everett, Washington, hate it. Their hostility toward the Christian faith may get them into legal trouble.
School officials in the district seem to be targeting the program for discrimination. They’ve made obtaining permission slips onerous. They’ve barred LifeWise from setting up a booth at school fairs. And members of the school board have displayed open hostility.
LifeWise sent a legal letter to the school district seeking redress. But school board members weren’t having it.
Charles Adkins, director of the school board, accused (PDF) LifeWise of having a “‘mission to bring white supremacy and Christian nationalism to [Everett] schools’ and insisted that LifeWise ‘cannot be allowed to have access to our kids.'”
Adkins called LifeWise “homophobic bullies who are active and willing participants in the efforts to bring about an authoritarian theocracy…”
Traci Mitchell, president of the school board, said “she did not like LifeWise’s presence in the District, and that ‘religion and public schools do not go together.'”
But affirming a child’s confusion about his sex and government schools do go together?
First Liberty Institute filed a lawsuit against the Everett Public School District on LifeWise’s behalf. Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP also represents the organization.
A federal court just temporarily blocked the school district’s discriminatory policies and addressed the hostility.
“The Court agrees with Plaintiffs that even if Mr. Adkins was not legally speaking for the Board, evidence of his animus toward LifeWise is relevant.”
The same goes for Mitchell.
“These were not stray remarks,” the court wrote. From First Liberty:
Community members echoed Adkins’ comments, likening LifeWise to the Nazi party. In its decision, the court found it significant that neither school board members, nor district leadership did anything to distance the district from such comments but, instead, affirmed them with comments like, “We do appreciate you coming back and you are being heard. So, thank you. It might not look like it, but you are.”
Hostility toward the Christian faith isn’t new. And it will never cease. But government schools will no longer get away with the hostile treatment.
“Anti-religious sentiment by government officials — particularly when coupled with the adoption of facially discriminatory policies — has no place in a free society,” said Barbara Smith Tyson, counsel for LifeWise and lawyer at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.
LifeWise CEO Joel Penton said the program exists “because parents in Everett and across the country are asking for it. Families see the positive impact that Bible-based character education during school hours can have on student behavior and academic performance. We simply want to protect a program that is already serving dozens of local families and ensure that parental freedom is respected.”
LifeWise cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018).
In a 7-2 vote, the court ruled that the commission discriminated against Christian baker Jack Phillips and treated his beliefs with hostility after two homosexuals filed a complaint when he refused to use his artistic talent to make them a custom “wedding” cake.
