đ¨ âYOUâRE GOING TO HELL FOR NOT BEING IN LIFEWISE.â
đA third grader said that to a classmate at her public school.
-Her teacher documented it.
-The child admitted saying it. She served detention for it. đ
-And the mother of the child who SAID IT contacted us.
Her daughter was already Christian. She already went to church. Her mother supported her faith and allowed her to attend LifeWise. When she learned what her daughter had said, she was horrified.
She still is. She told us:
âI most definitely did not raise my daughter to act like that.â
And:
âIt was specifically LifeWise that she had said. Iâm not sure what theyâre teaching our children over there.â
This wasnât a parent objecting to Christianity. (And neither do we!) This was the mother of a LifeWise student trying to understand how her own child came to believe that a classmate was going to hell for not attending LifeWise.
And look at who was left dealing with the fallout:
âĄď¸ A child who was told they were going to hell.
âĄď¸ A child who said it â and was disciplined for it.
âĄď¸ A mother who was horrified by what her daughter had said.
âĄď¸ A public-school teacher who had to step in and deal with the damage.
Two children. One parent. One teacher.
And this is where the âcharacter educationâ framing falls apart. Because we do know what LifeWise teaches.
đŠIt teaches a specific Christian worldview about sin, salvation, belief, and eternal consequences.
What happened here is what that kind of teaching can look like when an elementary-aged child carries it back into a public-school classroom full of children who do not all share those beliefs.
Her mother has now asked LifeWise to remove her daughter from the program.
And this is bigger than one cruel comment between two kids.
đ¨A third grader came away believing she could look at a classmate who did not attend her religious program and tell him he was going to HELL because of it. That is NOT âcharacter education.â
âď¸That is teaching children to divide the people around them into the spiritually right and the spiritually condemned â and then sending them back into a public-school classroom together.
Two children were put in the middle. A mother was horrified. A public-school teacher was left handling the fallout.
Stop pretending this kind of religious division stays off campus just because the Bible lesson does. đĄ
Shared with the parentâs permission. Identifying information has been removed.
What people are saying:
- Facebook User: They have said this to gay and Jewish kids.
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User unfortunately, that is absolutely true.
- Facebook User: I had no idea about them until I took my granddaughter to the local library Easter egg hunt and they had a table set up. I wish I’d known what they were about because the very young girl probably 13 or 14 who was handing out magnets was explaining to me that they would come and take your child right out of class and I looked at her it didn’t really understand what she was talking about and now I know đ
- Facebook User: I hadn’t heard of this but just looked it up. Why would they allow kids to leave their acedemic classes, stuff they actually need for their future, to go to bible study? They have mornings before school, evenings and all weekend to to bible study and pray all they want. Why take kinds away from learning things they need to know! If you want that send them to parochial school!
- Facebook User: Thatâs the reason my children will not attend Lifewise! They need to be taught love your neighbor not hating those who are different!
- Facebook User: Facebook User irony
- Facebook User: Kid heard it from somewhere
- Facebook User: I remember when my neighbors kids told me my grandpa was in hell and I was going to hell too for being catholic. Even without lifewise itâs a problem but this âorganizationâ absolutely exacerbates the issue. I keep telling people itâs not about being Christian itâs about their âbrandâ of Christian. It gets old. Which is why Iâm no longer religious đ
and why I believe there should be no space for lifewise in schools.
But seriously, Iâm so sorry for this child, itâs an experience youâll carry with you forever. - Facebook User: Sounds like the child was repeating his/her family. Itâs abusive to teach children this garbage.
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User no, her family was who reported it to us. She explicitly said âLifeWiseâ so it sounds like the child repeating what they heard from or at LifeWise.
- Facebook User: Facebook User 100%!
- Facebook User: My kid will be saying âGFYâ to these kids.
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User Totally understand the instinct. Itâs infuriating to imagine your child being told something like this. We just want to keep the blame where it belongs â on the adults and the program creating these messages, not on the kids carrying them back into school.
- Facebook User: Secular Education Association I agree. At the same time, my child (who will start school in a few years) will be prepared for the attempted indoctrination. And I will encourage him to fight fire with fire. No offense, only defense.
- Facebook User: Disgusting comment for a child to be making!
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User we absolutely agree! And it isnât the first time weâve had this exact scenario reported to us. đ
- Facebook User: I delt with the same issues when my older two were in Elementary with The Good News Club.
- Facebook User: I was told the same in school without any Lifewise program existing, and so was my mom before me. I expect my kid will hear the same.
- Facebook User: This is what fundamentalism is about. My way or the highway. I think the teacher handled it beautifully.
- Facebook User: Facebook User Thatâs absolutely true. I was told as a teen that I was going to hell because I started attending the youth group of a Methodist church.
- Facebook User: So? This is how people figure out what they believe and how to defend it… let them have a religious discussion and defend their beliefs to each other… what is the problem?
- Facebook User: Facebook User theyâre fâking children.
- Facebook User: Facebook User yeah, well, i sure hope they’re not doing that to children, but , we had those fights as kids once our parents started having us interact with outgroups, them weird Pentecostals never acted right, people learned their place through argument or fightin, or our dads had a fight and it got resolved.. just keep the non-White non-Christians out of the country and it’s all fine..
- Facebook User: Facebook User the problem is it’s ran and operated by p3dophiles!!! You’re an idiot if you trust these creeps anywhere near your children.
- Facebook User: Teaching little kids to persecute and hate. I think that’s called indoctrination by a cult.
- Facebook User: I meanâŚthatâs what Christianity teaches, not surprised at all. Scare people into believing
- Facebook User: Facebook User What SOME Christianity teaches. To make a mass generalization like that on such a large religion with so many denominations and ways they do things only adds to the drama.
- Facebook User: Facebook User wellâŚ. Is there any sect of Christianity that says you donât go to hell if you donât accept Jesus? Yes, there are major differences between denominations buttThatâs pretty much the premise of all Christianity.
- Facebook User: Facebook User Considering Hell is mainly a Christian concept, if you don’t believe why would it be a problem? Atheists dont care about hell. Jews have their own views of the afterlife. So do Buddhists.
Besides its the whole “Don’t go to THIS PROGRAM of Christianity you go to hell” that’s the problem. The child that made the pronouncement is being taught one side of the same coin is better than the other. Only the strictest sects go that fire and brimstone my way or the highway rather than God is love and you can go you whole life without faith and change it all in your final moments.
- Facebook User: I was raised Catholic. Went to 18 years of catechism. Was never once told that. Catholics believe itâs up to God and we arenât to judge. You know the whole, he without sin shall cast the first stone thing. But then again, fundamentalist evangelicals will say Catholics are going to hell too.
- Facebook User: Facebook User no. Absolutely not true.
Christianity does NOT require children to participate in Liewise programming in order to stay out of hell. - Facebook User: Facebook User education is important, including theology, especially if you’re going to make wild claims about religion.
Actually, many major traditions hold to Inclusivism (like Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and mainline Protestants), which teaches that Godâs mercy, through Christ, extends to sincere people who never knew or fully understood Him (Romans 2:14-16). Christianity isn’t a monolith on thisâscriptures like 1 Timothy 4:10 emphasize a God whose salvation and mercy are far broader than a single strict formula.
- Facebook User: My first grade child was told she was going to hell because she didnât believe in god or go to church. She told the little asshat she didnât believe in hell either and blew his closed little mind. đ¤Ł
- Facebook User: Maybe her mom needs to pull her out of life wise
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