What people are saying:

• Facebook User: It was so much easier when religion wasn’t trying to get back into the schools. Everyone learned to get along, no matter what their beliefs. Now, it is in their face, and using kids to recruit other kids should not be allowed.
• Facebook User: Child: “Why can’t I go to Lifewise?”

  Parent: “Because we don’t believe in the messages that they teach.”

  This isn’t that difficult. It’s the same thing as your kid asking for candy for dinner.

  • Facebook User: Facebook User you’re very much over simplifying the issue.
  • Zachary Parrish: Facebook User and why can’t you give your child religious education outside of the school day? Prioritize your faith or use a voucher and send them to a private religious school….this isn’t that difficult
  • Secular Education Association: Facebook User The “candy for dinner” analogy falls apart fast — because in this case, it’s the adults handing out the candy. 👀

    LifeWise and their supporters are the ones baiting kids with treats, toys, and time out of class to get them into their program. That’s not a child’s “bad choice”; that’s a calculated tactic. They’re literally rewarding kids for religious participation and leaving others empty-handed.

    So no — this isn’t like saying no to candy for dinner.
    It’s more like adults sneaking junk food into the cafeteria and calling it lunch.

    Public school time isn’t theirs to sweeten or sell — it belongs to every student, not a church franchise.

  • Facebook User: Facebook User you seem to be laboring under the assumption that I’m okay with Lifewise. That couldn’t be further from the truth. However, parents aren’t being put in “impossible situations”. That’s hyperbolic nonsense.

    The situation parents are being put in is one where their kid wants something that appears to be fun, and their friends are participating, and they can’t. That’s a normal parenting situation, no different than banning sleepovers or parties. Or…Candy for dinner.

    Argue that a religious organization has no business pulling kids during the school day. Argue it’s unconstitutional, argue it’s unsafe, argue it’s a money grift.

    Don’t argue hyperbolic hand-wringing about feelings getting hurt, that’s a losing position.

  • Secular Education Association: Facebook User So no, this isn’t “normal parenting.”
    This is institutionalized religious favoritism — and it puts families in an impossible position: either compromise their beliefs or watch their child be isolated for them.

    That’s why comparing this to candy or sleepovers trivializes real harm. We’re talking about identity, belonging, and the state’s role in endorsing one faith over others — and that’s a very different thing.

    Those are all arguments we’ve made before. Over and over. This one’s legitimate too. It’s not hyperbolic if it’s f*cking happening. Being reported daily. Causing real harm.

    Parents are being put in impossible situations — when the school day itself is being used to separate, shame, and pressure their kids over religion. That’s not “candy for dinner.” That’s institutional coercion dressed up as choice.

    And I’d invite you to explain your “position” to a child’s face — to the kid left behind, sitting alone while their classmates are told they’re the ones God really wants. Then see how “hyperbolic” it feels.

• Facebook User: What drives me even more nuts are the parents that can read this and roll their eyes and claim “Oh, that’s not what happens” or “That won’t happen in OUR town…”
  • Facebook User: Facebook User But even worse are the parents who quietly agree.
• Facebook User: I’d be honest and say it’s because they teach made up fairy tales and we don’t believe in that crap.