What people are saying:

• Facebook User: A couple of years ago, my daughter brought home a religious rubber bracelet from school. A kid in Lifewise had been given a ton of them to give to all the other kids in his class. She didn’t know what it meant. He was told to tell them you get prizes and fun stuff and for them to tell their parents they wanted to go to Lifewise. This was Lebanon City Schools.
• Facebook User: This program has been brought and is being promoted in the elementary school by the school resource officer!

  Find the 1 person who has the best rapport with all the littles…🤮🤮🤮

• Facebook User: Another reason I’m running for my local school board! ❤️‍🔥 Grace for CF School Board
• Facebook User: Good thing it’s completely optional.
  • Secular Education Association: Facebook User “Optional” sounds nice until you’re the kid left behind with nothing to do, or the one being teased for not going. Optional doesn’t erase the disruption, the stigma, or the way it blurs the line between school and church. That’s the whole problem.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Calling it optional sounds simple, but in practice it isn’t. For the kids who don’t attend, there’s no real option,just sitting behind while classmates leave, then returning with candy, trinkets, and stories. That’s exclusion built into the school day. Public schools are supposed to be for learning, not dividing students by who participates in a religious program and who doesn’t.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User it’s not exclusion when you choose to not participate lol that’s so silly
  • Facebook User: Facebook User That’s not how inclusion works. If kids are singled out, left behind, and then watch their classmates return with candy and stories, that is exclusion…regardless of whether you label it a ‘choice.’ In public schools, equity isn’t about who opts in or out of a religious program. It’s about making sure no child is put in the position of being ‘the other’ because their family believes differently.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User then your family is free to start your own program and do the same thing. It’s that simple.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Public schools aren’t supposed to be marketplaces for competing religious programs. They’re meant to be neutral so all kids feel included. If families want religious education, they’re free to pursue it outside school hours…where it doesn’t divide children during the school day.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User I distinctly remember having to learn about other religions in school. And I (and my family) didn’t throw quite as big of a fit over it as you people are. At the end of the day, what you are complaining about is something YOU have opted out of. That’s your choice. You can explain that to your children, it’s your decision, not LifeWise’s fault. It is a free country and we have the freedom to choose what we want to believe in and participate in. If you subscribe to whatever ideology you want, that is your prerogative. You don’t have the right to dictate what others choose to subscribe to. Just because it’s an option doesn’t mean it’s oppression if you choose not to participate. Like I said, you’re free to come up with your own group. I would support that more than I would support forcing students to not have the option to participate in a program that they enjoy. Have a blessed day
  • Facebook User: Facebook User There’s a big difference between learning about religions in school as part of history or culture, and being pulled out of class for a program that actively teaches one religion. One is education, the other is indoctrination. Public schools are supposed to be neutral so every kid belongs. Families are free to teach their own faith at home or church, that’s where it belongs, not in the middle of the school day.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Keep your religion out of public schools and I’ll keep my religion out as well. Or, equal time being educated on the many different beliefs around the world.
• Facebook User: Are we going up clarify what they are being accused of? If we are going to inform parents we should inform them not mislead and leave it open for discussion.
  • Secular Education Association: Facebook User We hear you. To be clear — this post isn’t about accusing anyone, it’s about giving parents a chance to share what’s actually happening in their schools. The concerns that keep coming up are things like:

    • kids left behind or singled out when others leave for LifeWise
    • disruption to the school day and instruction time
    • lack of oversight and accountability for off-site programs

    Those aren’t assumptions — they’re real issues families are experiencing. Our goal is to create space for parents to speak up in their own words so the community has the full picture.

  • Facebook User: Separating church from state. And also, what about all the other families who practice other religions or no religion, or are agnostic. The Christian religion is not the #1 religion. We are not a Christian nation as many who practice it, believe. Christian people are, though, allowed to practice their religion…just like any other person practicing THEIR religion or non-religion. So, public schools should be advocating for all children to have the opportunity to go to these types of programs, since Life wise is being pushed down the throats of our communities. It is very obvious that they want their Christian views indoctrinated into all the public schools, simply to push their agenda of indoctrination.
  • Facebook User: It is a form of bully behavior…leaving children behind, while children attending the Lifewise programs are being literally GROOMED by enticing them with candy and other goodies and asking them to get their non-program (non-programmed, really) schoolmates and friends to join. It is conniving and immoral.
• Facebook User: I spoke out against LW at my district’s last school board meeting and shared suggestions of how to make sure we are not using any public dollars to accommodate this group.
• Facebook User: Thankfully my grandson’s school has not accumulated anywhere near enough signatures.