The CEO of a Christian organization that teaches the Bible to children during public school classes is celebrating a recent legal victory against a district that he says was unfairly restricting his organization’s efforts.
As CBN News recently reported, a federal judge has stepped in to temporarily halt seemingly blatant anti-Christian discrimination against Lifewise Academy at the hands of Everett Public Schools, a public school in Washington state.
Joe Penton, who heads Lifewise, spoke to CBN about the group’s purpose and why school districts allegedly began targeting its efforts.
“We provide public school students with Bible education during school hours,” Penton said. “In accordance with the Religious Instruction Act and Supreme Court rulings, we remove children during release hours, remove them from school grounds during school hours, teach them a Bible lesson, and then bring them back to school.”
Lifewise quickly spread across the United States, with one program emerging several years ago in Everett, Washington. According to Penton, the chapter is “doing incredibly well.”
“(There are) dozens of families involved and it has a huge impact on those children and the community,” he said. “But I think there are some people who are trying to cause trouble. There are people who are against what we’re doing because, as you can imagine, we’re teaching the Bible.”
Penton said the school board raised the amount over criticism, leading to the restrictive measures that forced Lifewise to sue the school district.
“Policies started to be put in place that specifically targeted us and discriminated against our programs,” Penton said, citing several examples. “The community fair where all the organizations that serve students come together to sign up kids and promote what they’re doing for students, all of a sudden we’re not allowed to be there.”
Other issues concerned the permit policy, which purportedly required parents to sign up their children weekly, setting it apart from other programs that only required one permit per semester. This was one of the most pervasive issues that perpetuated the legal drama between the district and Lifewise.
“If you have to go into the school office every week to sign your child out for this class that lasts all semester, (the policy) would effectively shut down interest,” Penton said.
The Lifewise leader explained that there are still other policies out there that are even more “ridiculous.”
“They passed a policy that if kids bring something home from Lifewise, whether it’s a worksheet or a Bible, because it’s something they’re learning at Lifewise, they have to return it in a sealed envelope so other kids can’t see it,” he said. “So if kids want to read the Lifetime Bible during study hall or free reading time, that’s not allowed. They can read Harry Potter, but they can’t read the Bible.”
Ultimately, families involved in the program filed legal action against Everett Public Schools because Lifewise felt these policies were “clearly discriminatory” and “clearly unconstitutional.” The lawsuit comes after Penton said he tried to persuade officials to no avail.
Penton initially feared the ensuing legal process would be long and drawn-out, but a judge recently issued a preliminary injunction reversing the policy as the dispute progresses.
“There are still court dates remaining on this preliminary injunction, and a final judgment is still pending,” Penton said. “But what this means is that there is enough evidence and other things to show that the court has told the schools, ‘At least until then, we need to move forward because we need to rescind many of these policies.'”
While Penton hopes Lifewise won’t have to take such action, he believes Lifewise will win.
“We’re not going to go looking for these fights,” he said. “While we are not looking for controversy, we find that each time there is controversy, more people hear about Lifewise, so we are grateful to have this opportunity to share.”
CBN News previously reached out to the Everett Public Schools Board of Directors for comment but did not receive a response. Everett Public Schools spokeswoman Harmony Weinberg told the Herald late last year that she could not comment further on the lawsuit.
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