What people are saying:

• Secular Education Association: Before anyone twists this: students have rights. Kids can talk about religion.

  The issue is LifeWise celebrating its own released-time religious instruction being carried back onto the public school playground to reach a child whose parent did not opt in…

  That is exactly why “off campus” does not end the concern.

  When a private religious program removes children during the school day, teaches them evangelical Bible lessons, and then celebrates those lessons spreading at recess, parents should be asking serious questions.

  🚨Who is responsible for the pressure this creates?

  🚨Who protects the child whose parent said no?

  🚨And why is LifeWise bragging about reaching them anyway?

  • Facebook User: Agree. Thank you for this post.
  • Secular Education Association: Facebook User thank you for being here! It’s all hands on deck and we need to sound the alarm. 🚨
• Facebook User: This may be am unpopular take but kids discussing religion at recess are the LEAST of my concerns. Strange adults transporting the kids away from trusted known adults at school is my primary concern.
  • Secular Education Association: Facebook User it’s not about the kids discussing religion at recess. At all. It’s everything around that fact. AND. That’s absolutely fair, it’s ONE of our concerns as well. There are MANY legitimate reasons to oppose Lifewise and RTRI.
  • Facebook User: Secular Education Association word! I’ve been showing my 10yo all your posts to read because he definitely has school friends involved and approaching others
• Facebook User: Indoctrination.
• Facebook User: PUBLIC schools. The operative word here is public
• Facebook User: When an organization utilizes children as recruiting tools, they skirt the grey area of the SCOTUS’s decision. This isn’t faith based teaching.
• Facebook User: super creepy.
• Facebook User: Disgusting
• Facebook User: Why are these people on campus during recess?
  • Secular Education Association: Facebook User we believe she’s saying that the kids reported to her that they run the recess Bible study.. BUT the question remains…during this conversation with the little boy who isnt participating… where is she then? On school property? Why? Why does that little boy know her as the “Lifewise teacher”? You don’t think he believes it’s school sponsored do you?! <— (sarcasm) 👀😡
  • Facebook User: There are so many questions. She also comes off as creepy as hell
• Facebook User: Be ready to lose your job when LifeWise becomes a private ultraconservative Christian nationalist school that will replace public education.
• Facebook User: Separation of church & state. Lifewise teaches kids to recruit their friends.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User here we go again… there is no such thing!!! The mention of it was in a letter between 2 of the founding fathers of the Constitution. Religion MUST be involved in Goverment to properly elect and inform others who is the best possible choice to align with our conservative values and morals. A necessity to keep this country from moral decline and out of the realm of un-natural behavior as well as the liberal agenda that defiles the world view of marriage and abortion.
    The church will continue to be involved in all aspects of Goverment and that includes standing up for moral values and defining right from wrong. A world with no moral compass is doomed to self destruction.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User

    The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause prohibits the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” This clause not only forbids the government from establishing an official religion, but also prohibits government actions that unduly favor one religion over another. It also prohibits the government from unduly preferring religion over non-religion, or non-religion over religion.

    https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/establishment_clause

    If you don’t think separation of church and state exists, then I hope you advocate for other religions to have just as much influence in government as Christianity. If not, you are in violation of the establishment clause as you cannot favor one religion over any other.

  • Facebook User: Facebook User religion is not required for a moral compass. Beyond that, whose religion did you have in mind?

    That’s a rhetorical question. I know damned well which religion you have in mind. It’s a small, misguided subset of Christianity. As a previous response said, this flies in the face of the first amendment no matter how hard you try to spin it otherwise.

    The evangelism LifeWise is pushing is grooming, plain and simple.

  • Facebook User: Facebook User that was established to keep the goverment out of religion not to keep religion out of goverment.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User I just gave you an academic source from a prestigious law school that says otherwise.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Islam teaches the same thing too. In fact…Islam teaches to behead your friends that don’t want to convert.
• Facebook User: Nah. You should stay in church.
• Facebook User: Keep it in church
• Facebook User: These people are insane
• Facebook User: So if adults were teaching children about something a parent did not agree with, would we be as proud? This is like spreading smallpox to the indigenous. Remarkable.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User thats an excellent summation.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User very poor example. This isn’t a disease… Come on, really?
  • Facebook User: Facebook User thinking that this is ok in this country is a mental disease. Lifewise is a plague on society. Let’s put it this way; you sign a paper to keep your kid from joining a Muslim program like lifewise, but then later found out that the adults there were teaching kids how to try and pressure your kid to join behind your back. Would you still be so supportive of it?
  • Facebook User: Facebook User , pretty accurate. You just don’t agree. How about a priest who uses other altar boys to recruit other kids to molest? There I fixed it…
  • Facebook User: Facebook User , how is this not “grooming” and “indoctrination”?
• Facebook User: Evangelism, plain and simple. “Honor thy Father and Mother” is pretty high on the commandment list and yet they are proud for encouraging a child to disrespect their daddy. I know God is first in the list, but shouldn’t we be following his rules to bring people to understand His love and ways?
• Facebook User: Such disdain for religion doesn’t surprise me, but the fact that ANYONE thinks they have the right to deny anyone the opportunity of learning about the saving grace of Jesus Christ is against the founding beliefs of the moral fibers this country was built on. May God have mercy on your souls.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User keep it out of public schools, that’s all.
  • Facebook User: Scott Marx So if a child was teaching devil worship at recess wouldn’t you want the school to stop it? What if they were teaching a non-Christian religion to their friends, and telling them their parents got it wrong? Our school had to stop teaching yoga in Phys Ed because parents were worried about connections to religious practices.
    School clubs (including student led book studies) on school property during the school day MUST have administrative and parental approval and an adult sponsor. This child can state his opinion and read the Bible and pray, but not lead others in study or prayer.
    I am a Christian and I understand how these school rules protect my children from religious education that goes against my beliefs. Do you understand? If one religion can be taught to my kids without my consent, any and all can! I don’t think you want that!
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Job 13:5 If only you would remain silent; for that would be your wisdom!
  • Facebook User: Scott Marx you are misconstruing people’s position on this matter as a disdain for religion. That’s not the case with me and with many others that are critical of Lifewise. I am a Christian person and I respect the religious beliefs of others. I just don’t want a machine like Lifewise to use peer pressure in our public schools to promote their version of religion.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User ok, ok….but imagine Lifewise teaching Islamic beliefs or Satanism. Still feeling ok about it? If you said “yes”….you’re a damn liar.
  • Facebook User: Facebook UserExactly! I also don’t think Lifewise supporters understand how detrimental it can be for a child to be expected to preach to his/her peers. It really puts them in an uncomfortable social position, to put it mildly.
    School teachers, counselors, and administrators are educated in child development and are responsible for protecting social/emotional concerns while children are at school. They have learned signs and symptoms of stress to look for and how to support a child. Is that something Lifewise teachers are trained in?
  • Facebook User: Facebook User that was a rhetorical question at the end right 🙂
• Facebook User: Cult, noting but cult vibes,not a group you want your kids anywhere near
  • Facebook User: Facebook User cult leader vibes
• Facebook User: I will never understand why people need a cult to tell them how to live their life?
• Facebook User: Keep religion OUT of public schools!
• Facebook User: Pedos.
• Facebook User: Not to mention the predators among the Lifewise community. Get them out of our schools!
• Facebook User: NO. This is wrong. This indoctrination. This violates the church and state separation in the most clear way.
• Facebook User: And to think, this is a celebration for them? It’s just weird. Hold onto to that story, miss lauren. 🤮