🚨 MICHIGAN JUST INTRODUCED A BILL THAT WOULD MAKE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ADVERTISE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEAVE SCHOOL FOR RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

And pay attention to how this works.
Michigan already allows students to leave public school for up to two class hours a week for off-site religious instruction.

👉But there is a problem for organizations trying to grow these programs:

🚨The public school isn’t supposed to be the religious organization’s recruiter.

So HB 6422 changes the equation.
Introduced September 29, the bill would require every school district, intermediate school district and public-school academy in Michigan to notify every student AND every parent or guardian, every year, that students may attend religious-instruction classes during public-school hours.

🚫Not when a parent asks.

🚫Not when a religious organization independently reaches a family.

✅ Every student. Every family. Every year.

Through the public school.

The bill is only one sentence long.
And that one sentence matters.

Released-time programs have traditionally depended on an important separation: religious organizations organize and promote their programs; parents choose whether to participate; public schools accommodate lawful absences without becoming the ministry’s promotional arm.

HB 6422 would take this one step further.

Religious organizations want access to public-school families. Normally, they have to reach those families themselves.
👉Michigan lawmakers want to make the public school do it for them. Think about what that means.

Private religious programs get a statewide audience, and public schools are legally required to deliver the message. Then we’re supposed to pretend the school had nothing to do with promoting it because the Bible lesson happened off campus.

🚫That isn’t accommodation.

That is using the public-school system to expand the reach of private religious ministries.

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