Lobbying

From 2024-2025 LifeWise Academy actively lobbied to change state laws across the country and successfully did so in Oklahoma, Indiana, Iowa, Montana and Texas. In August 2025 LifeWise claimed 11 states have RTRI legislation pending. 

We believe as a non-profit organization with tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status LifeWise should not be lobbying anywhere near the extent we are seeing. The fact that they are also a “ministry” adds a religious factor that just makes the entanglement of this organization into the political sphere even more problematic.

LifeWise is not simply supporting these legislative changes, they in fact wrote the language for these bills with the help of First Liberty. LifeWise representatives can be seen in this video talking about writing model legislation while asking the National Association of Christian Lawmakers to adopt it and discussing which states they are targeting. 

The situation we find is precisely that which our nation’s founders tried to protect us from.

When states (and their elected officials) are simultaneously being intentionally targeted by a religious ministry (with tax exempt nonprofit status) to get laws put in place using a legislative template that they wrote to directly further advances in their organizational growth, financial income and agenda… we don’t have freedom from OR of religion.

LifeWise has stated their ultimate goal is to get a law on the books in every state that REQUIRES all public schools to accommodate their R.T.R.I. program. To accomplish this LifeWise started initially pushing these legislative changes in states they refer to internally as “low-hanging fruit”. These are states such as Indiana and Ohio, where there are like-minded lawmakers, as well as laws currently in place saying schools “MAY” allow students to leave for R.T.R.I. classes. They then get bills introduced which, if passed, will change the language to “SHALL”. This takes the power away from the schools entirely; the decision about what is best for their students should be left to those in the local community, not mandated by the state at religion’s request.

Unsurprisingly, these law changes do not stop at simply eliminating local control. LifeWise’s model law also includes provisions that directly contradict the precedent set by Supreme Court decisions by making allowances for LifeWise to hold classes ON SCHOOL PROPERTY and to receive public funds. Another concerning piece of language in this legislation model gives both parents and sponsoring organizations (such as LifeWise) an automatic and inherent right to sue a school district.

LifeWise’s internal emails show how deeply LifeWise is involved in orchestrating both the introduction and campaign of these bills. You can clearly see how they are working behind closed doors directly with lawmakers while also organizing, encouraging and actually providing the public support. Please help us watch for legislation in your state, engage with legislators and reach out to us with any questions.