It’s mainly a group called LifeWise Academy that keeps pushing for this, and not just in OH. I’m a passive member of a FB group called Parents Against LifeWise Academy, and it’s gross some of the stories about LW that a little sunlight exposes. Like how kids who don’t participate sometimes get bullied by kids who do, making it questionable what kind of “character education” LW participants are actually receiving.
It’s also troubling that allowing it as an afterschool activity isn’t good enough for LW. They specifically want to be able to operate during the school day. That gives credibility to the accusation that one of LW’s actual main goals is to disrupt public education.
I’m a Christian and a not-a-Democrat, and I think this is wrong.
There already is a state law regarding “released time” (students allowed to be taken out of public school during the school day for religious instruction).
Currently, the law states that a school district may allow their students to take this released time. The proposed legislation is the change this to be shall.
IMO, the current law simply forces a school district to treat all students the same: if one student is granted the released time, then all students who request it are to be granted the released time.
I’m a Christian who does value religious instruction (not indoctrination) for our kids. That instruction needs to be balanced with “why believe a particular set of beliefs” along with understanding the basics of other belief systems. I’m also one who does not see that there is an “either/or” choice between religious belief and science. I really enjoy reading Hawking; and I learn quite a bit from reading Dawkins when he writes about his field.
I say that the law is fine as it is, and that I would generally support NOT granting release time during the school day simply because too many parents will look to abuse it.
The Westerville school board (suburb of Columbus) recently had two meetings on this topic, where they voted to no longer allow RFRI, and I watched the streams of both - I believe they are publicly available on their YouTube page or their website through googling. It was interesting to watch.
I believe in the right to have religious instruction during school, and that’s why we have religious private schools. I do not agree with students missing recess or specials (which are valuable education) for religious instruction.
I’d think that given the apparent demand for religious instruction, alongside the obvious demand for after-school supervision, parents seeking religious instruction/indoctrination for their public school kids and the entities seeking to provide such would be better-served by providing religious-flavored after-school programs.
They do not want to do after school because the whole point is manipulating the non-attending kids into attending. They send the kids back to school with candy, toys, prizes, and tell them to make sure the kids who don’t attend know all about what they’re missing out on. So the kids who don’t attend feel crappy because the whole point is to make them feel FOMO.
And then shortly after they dared to rescind the policy, their levy narrowly fails. You know that LW campaigned against the levy in retribution, either directly or indirectly via grumpy pro-LW people short-sightedly taking it out on the board via saying no to the levy.
Hundo-P. LW had people from all over the state come to the school board meetings, people who have nothing to do with the district, so they’re quite organized.
From the LifeWise Academy website (I will not link) they say they are in 29 states with a plan to serve over 50,000 students. Their press release is a little light on actual stats versus what they plan to do. They do fall into the rise of corporate Christianity that seems to be overtaking churches and communities. To me it is unsettling, something about the corporate Christians language and methods doesn’t feel Christian. I am no longer a Christian so it doesn’t effect me directly but the efforts they make to expand their secular influence I find a bit concerning.
You know that LW campaigned against the levy in retribution, either directly or indirectly via grumpy pro-LW people short-sightedly taking it out on the board via saying no to the levy.