🚨 FIRST THEY CHANGE THE LAW. THEN THEY CELEBRATE THE EXPANSION.
LifeWise Academy has been very clear: it advocated for Oklahoma’s HB 1425.
-Its leadership traveled to Oklahoma.
-It answered lawmakers’ questions.
-It pushed for the legal framework that would require public school districts to accommodate released-time religious instruction during the school day.
👉And in 2024, Oklahoma lawmakers passed it. The House vote was 51–40. Representative Chris Banning was one of the 51 yes votes.
Fast forward. LifeWise enters Bixby. Then expands. Now Bixby Public Schools has approved LifeWise at six campuses.
🚨And Banning — the same lawmaker who voted for the law that helped create this opening — is publicly congratulating the district and the LifeWise team for:
“getting this expansion across the finish line.”
Because this is exactly how this works.
Not random.
Not organic.
Not simply “parents choosing Bible classes.”
1. A national religious organization helps push legislation.
2. Lawmakers vote for it.
3. The law FORCES districts to create the structure.
4. LifeWise moves in.
5. Then those same politicians applaud the result.
And we’re all still supposed to pretend this is just a private religious choice happening completely outside the public school system? Get real.
The public school has to schedule around it.
The district has to administer it.
Students leave during the school day.
The law says they can still be counted as present.
👉And in Oklahoma, qualifying released-time courses can even receive elective credit.
That is not government neutrality. That is government building the runway. And LifeWise is taking off from it.
And this is bigger than Chris Banning. Bigger than LifeWise.
🚨🚨This is what Christian nationalism looks like when it becomes public policy. 🚨🚨
It doesn’t always arrive waving a flag and demanding a theocracy. Sometimes it arrives as a bill.
A “parental rights” argument.
A “religious freedom” measure.
A “character education” program. 👀
One seemingly small change at a time….Then you zoom out.
The religious organization lobbies.
The lawmakers legislate.
The state mandates.
The public schools accommodate.
The religious organization expands.
And then they congratulate each other for getting it “across the finish line.”
They aren’t even hiding it anymore.
They are rubbing it in your face.
What people are saying:
- Secular Education Association: Source article with Rep. Chris Banning’s full statement and his “getting this expansion across the finish line” quote:
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