The political situation in this country is in flux and people might not know where to put their energy since there is so much going on. SHoWLE President Doug Berger will host a zoom call about what you can do in these trying times. He will focus on church and state issues such as more anti-abortion actions in the state legislature, the continued disruption of public schools from vouchers and Lifewise, challenges in the Toledo area, and national concerns like the recent anti-atheist NSPM‑7 memo that President Trump issued.
This call will be open to anyone who wants to support real religious freedom and civil rights.
Most of you know we have been focused on the growth of Lifewise Academy and the inherent problems it creates for our public schools. President Doug Berger has been working for a few months with a team made up of a cross-section of people concerned with Lifewise. It was led and hosted by Honesty for Ohio Education and on August 29th they released a tool-kit and other information the public can use to limit or eliminate the damage done by Lifewise.
For those new to the issue, Lifewise is a Released Time Religious Instruction (RTRI) program that, with parental permission, removes kids from their public school and takes them off-campus to a Bible school class during the school day.
This is a problem on many levels. Lifewise refuses to have their program before or after school, they have used friends in the state legislature to strong arm districts who won’t let them operate, and the program is less than transparent in their operations.
The tool-kit goes over in more detail all the issues with the Lifewise program.
SHoWLE opposes RTRI on church and state grounds and would love for districts not to have a policy at all. But we have been working with the Honesty team to come up with some solutions that protect the school districts and the children involved. These protections are missing from the state law Lifewise is abusing. The tool-kit includes a model policy that districts should adopt or use to revise their current policy if they have one.
Honesty and SHoWLE oppose HB 445 and SB 293 which would require school districts to have an RTRI policy but would not address the serious issues raised about Lifewise.
Our President Doug Berger got to help make the presentation on the 29th and here is a copy of the remarks he planned to make but due to time constraints was not able to speak from them entirely.
My name is Douglas Berger and I am the founder and president of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie. I have been following this issue since 2014 when the law that Lifewise is abusing was passed in the Ohio Legislature. Ohio Revised Code 3313.6022 was never intended to be used to allow the mass movement of public school children from the school to a Bible class in the middle of their school day. The law was intended to give high school students the chance to gain course credit for religious classes they might attend during the day in addition to their regular course work. The law sat on the books for almost 10 years before Lifewise came into existence and abused the law for their own ends.
Released time has been part of the fabric of the public school since the US Supreme Court case Zorach v Clauson was decided in 1952. All schools have policies now that allow for students to be taken out of school by parents for religious reasons. I know from my own history that some of my classmates would leave school to participate in Ash Wednesday mass and return to school with ash on their forehead. I also know that some rural Hancock county schools, my home county, have had RTRI programs since the 1970s. This is a common occurrence.
The issue isn’t Released time but the abuse of it by Lifewise and any program that refuses to operate before or after school as has been done for more than 50 years by other operators who actually respect the public schools in which they exist.
Lifewise stated goal is to convert children to their brand of Christianity and to turn the public schools into religious schools.
I am a taxpayer and firm supporter of the public schools. The use of released time in the middle of the school day hurts the education of not only the kids who attend the program but the kids who are left behind.
I also have major concerns with how Lifewise operates and I know that some have problems with the theology they teach which they refuse to freely share with anyone. They are known to bully districts that don’t cooperate or to use “friends” in state and local government to lean on them. There are now two bills in the legislature, one in the House is HB 445 and the one in the Senate is SB 293 that would force school districts to adopt policies under ORC 3313.6022 — which wouldn’t contain any guardrails to protect children. That is what Lifewise wants so they can get around local districts who value all students education more than the religious beliefs of a few.
Let me restate that Lifewise doesn’t need the law to operate. They could start up a new program in any district today but they want the state to force all districts in Ohio to allow them to operate during the school day. If a district refuses to allow Lifewise to interrupt the school day it isn’t violating a parent’s 1st amendment right to guide the education of their children. They can always put the student in private school or in a program that operates before or after school.
I don’t care that Lifewise is Christian and I wouldn’t care about the religion or non-religion of a program that wants to disrupt a school day. I would still oppose the disruption.
I urge everyone to ask some serious questions if your district has a Lifewise program or if they are planning on coming to your district. Work with your school board to install the guardrails missing from Ohio’s Released Time law to protect your children and your school district. Some of those guardrails are mentioned in the toolkit and also talk to your legislator about this issue and convince them why guardrails are needed and why this needs to be left up to the individual school districts.
Thank you
For more information about this issue and to view and download the took-kit visit:
Public schools all over the country and especially in Ohio are being invaded by a Christian Nationalist group called LifeWise. They claim to be teaching character values using Bible stories but in reviewing some of these Bible stories, we have to ask, Do we want to be teaching young kids about Human sacrifice for example?
LifeWise sets up in a local school district and with parental permission take kids off-campus for some Bible learning disguised as Character and value education. They refuse to let the public review their curriculum and is in fact suing someone who legally obtained a copy and posted it online.
Maybe this is why LifeWise refuses to let people outside of LifeWise see their curriculum:
In the Elementary curriculum, that is noted for Kindergarten through 3rd grade, Lesson 8 is about the character trait “sacrifice”. One segment of the lesson talks about God testing Abraham. For those who don’t know the story, God tells Abraham to take his son up into the mountain and sacrifice him to show his loyalty to God.
God wants Abraham to murder his own son to show much he “loves” God.
Abraham does what God says and takes his son up the mountain, builds an alter, and is just about ready to do the deed and an Angel stops him and lets him know that since he was ready to murder Isaac he knew he feared God (ie. would do what God Wanted).
Side note: Isaac had no clue his father was prepared to murder him.
So, not only is LifeWise teaching little kids that human sacrifice can be a good thing as long as it is for God, here is this tidbit
Example of a LifeWise Lesson about Human Sacrifice
The lesson is to have 2nd and 3rd graders act out the Abraham story and for the other kids to provide sound effects. Have the kids act out human sacrifice for God? Some kids have issues with what is real and what is not so should we be teaching this particular story? We don’t think so.
That isn’t the only problematic story. Here is a lesson about the trait submission:
Submission means learning to be a good follower. Instead of doing our own thing, we can do what we are asked. We don’t talk back or demand our way. We choose to “follow the leader,” whether that is God, our parents, our teachers or other good authorities God puts in our lives.
LifeWise Lesson Example
In an ironic twist, the title of the lesson is “Jacob’s New Name” and some of the activities are kids choosing a new name as a game. Yet, Joel Penton, the founder of LifeWise is against kids choosing their own name to socially transition at school. Also LifeWise training documents make clear that the order of authority for children is God then their Parents.
If this was a secular lesson about submission (it wouldn’t be called that in the first place), the teacher would also talk about caveats like are you being hurt or ‘has an adult asked you to keep a secret.’ Unlike this Bible story we don’t teach kids to never question why an adult or parent is asking them to do something. There will be things a kid must do that they don’t want to do — like their homework or mowing the yard, but typically they need to “submit” as long as it won’t hurt them in some way that typically is illegal if uncovered.
And what if a child actually murders their classmate and they say they did it because God told them to do it?
On Tuesday 3/19, Lucas county Judge Stacy Cook ruled that the Sylvania City School District bus transportation plan for students of non-public schools doesn’t violate Ohio law or constitution.
Back in 2022, a couple of families that send their children to a catholic school in Sylvania, filed a lawsuit because their children had to be picked up hours before their school started, transported with older students, then dropped off at a high school to transfer to another bus, to arrive at their catholic school. The parents thought it was unlawful and violated the equal protection and religious freedom clauses of the Ohio constitution.
From the ruling:
“The evidence submitted by plaintiffs consist of several affidavits by the parties and a nonparty spouse. These affidavits recite that they choose Catholic education because of their personal Catholic faith. The affidavits also recite the various inconveniences the Plaintiffs and their children face because of the District’s transportation scheme. However, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have offered no evidence of any coercive effects on their religious practice: there is no evidence that the transportation plan has compelled Plaintiffs to do anything forbidden by their religion or that it has caused them to refrain from doing something required by their religion. Plaintiffs have also not offered any evidence that the transportation plan has compelled them to affirm or disavow a belief forbidden or required by their religion. Accordingly, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate any coercive effect upon their religious practice. The Plaintiffs have therefore failed to show that Defendants’ transportation plan violates their right to free exercise of religion under the Ohio Constitution.
The Court finds against Plaintiffs as to their claim that Defendants’ transportation plan violates their right to free exercise of religion under the Ohio Constitution. Again, the presumption that a legislative act is constitutional applies to the Board’s transportation plan. With this presumption the Court finds in favor of Defendants as to Plaintiffs’ free exercise claim.”
Both parties had asked for a summary judgement since the facts in the case weren’t in dispute. In the original lawsuit the families asked the court for an injunction to order the school district to “fix” the transportation plan. Judge Cook said the court couldn’t do that, it could only rule if the district’s act was lawful and not unconstitutional.
The original lawsuit was dismissed by the parents on August 30, 2022. Parents refiled on September 16, 2022 and asked for class action status and removed all references to the 1st amendment to keep it out of Federal court. The class action was never certified.
A lawyer for the families, who was one of the plaintiffs when the lawsuit had been filed in August 2022 but dropped out in September of 2022, stated they were probably going to appeal the ruling.
We were contacted recently by someone who lives in the Sylvania Public school district. She said that LifeWise had a presentation scheduled for the next school board meeting and wanted to know if we had any information about the group.
Released Time Religious Instruction is allowed under Ohio Revised Code 3313.6022. The big takeaway is that school districts aren’t required to adopt RTRI policies.
Other points from the law:
(1) The student’s parent or guardian gives written consent.
(2) The sponsoring entity maintains attendance records and makes them available to the school district the student attends.
(3) Transportation to and from the place of instruction, including transportation for students with disabilities, is the complete responsibility of the sponsoring entity, parent, guardian, or student.
(4) The sponsoring entity makes provisions for and assumes liability for the student.
(5) No public funds are expended and no public school personnel are involved in providing the religious instruction.
(6) The student assumes responsibility for any missed schoolwork.
LifeWise Academy is a large religious group based in Columbus that works with local groups to install Bible classes in school districts. In 2022, LifeWise brought in over $6 million in donations, enrolls nearly 30,000 students from more than 300 schools across more than 12 states. LifeWise has a strong presence in Ohio. LifeWise will be in more than 170 Ohio school districts by next school year — more than a quarter of the state’s school districts.
LifeWise only teaches Christianity and only hires Christians to be instructors and staff.
The other issues we have is that children are being removed from school grounds for an hour more by people who don’t work for the school district and who the district doesn’t vet. The classes have absolutely no connection to anything being taught in the public school. It is basically a Sunday school during the week. LifeWise claims it is teaching character values but you can learn those values without religion.
We have created a FAQ page about Released Time Religious Instruction with additional information about the classes and LifeWise.
President Douglas Berger submitted written testimony to the Ohio House Higher Education Committee that is considering House Bill 183 that would prohibit transgender kids and adults from using the public bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
Two people on the committee are from the NW Ohio area. Rep. Derek Merrin (R‑42) and Rep. Josh Williams (R‑41).
The hearing for opposition testimony is Wednesday October 11th. Here is the text of his testimony as submitted:
Chair Rep. Young, Vice Chair Rep. Manning, and Ranking Member Rep. Miller, my name is Douglas Berger and I am President of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie, based in Toledo.
I am writing today to express our group’s opposition to House Bill 183 that would prohibit transgender kids and adults from using the public bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
We oppose this discriminatory bill since it reminds us of the dark days of Jim Crow when bathrooms and even drinking fountains were segregated by race and this bill is based on the same kind of false narrative and flimsy evidence that those Jim Crow laws were based on.
We are also tired of members of this legislature passing off irrational religious bigotry as public policy and law. When will your need to impose your religion on others stop?
HB 183 has no factual basis and no data to justify a ban is needed. Most anecdotal stories are made up. The numbers of teachers and people of faith who have been arrested and charged for abusing children far out distance any reported crime due to Trans people using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. I am more fearful of a child being alone with a priest or minister than using a bathroom with a Trans person.
Representative Lear and Bird also failed to note which religious conservative lobby group they copied and pasted this ridiculous proposal from. There is a reason these proposals all look alike.
We can also promise that the people who introduced this bill and at least three members of this committee have never met a Trans kid and has never talked to the Trans community but they seem to want to discriminate against Trans people anyway. I’m sure it is easier to discriminate when you never talk to them.
Our members would also like to know who will enforce this ban and how will it be enforced. Will birth certificates be required to be shown or will a school official be designated as a genital checker? Will you have a parent sign a form so their child can have a genital check? If there is no enforcement mechanism then this proposal is just for show. In fact it would be used to out Trans kids and bully them.
Adding on an unfunded mandate on public schools and colleges that you barely help fund is also something to consider.
In a recent TV interview, a member of this committee said that educational policy should only go toward the academic progress of students and we shouldn’t be introducing social issues into the classroom. How does HB 183 advance academic progress? It doesn’t but it sure introduces social issues into the classroom. How will this bill improve the dismal school ranking the state has received recently.
Why don’t Trans kids deserve to be protected too?
This session, the Ohio Senate introduced Senate Bill 49 also known as The Religious Expression Days “R.E.D.” Act. If passed it would give religious students in public schools three days off each year for religious reasons. SHoWLE opposes this bill for the main reason is it gives special privileges to religious students. We also don’t believe a law is needed since many school districts currently make accommodations for religious observances.
SHoWLE President Douglas Berger submitted written testimony to the Ohio Senate Education committee. Here is the text of his remarks:
The Board of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie urges legislators and our community members to oppose Ohio House Bill 616.
HB 616 eliminates the ability to teach on and discuss topics like sexual orientation, gender identity, and race. If enacted, HB 616 would attempt to erase discussion of the history and lived experiences of marginalized communities and students. The bill’s broad language will have a chilling effect on learning environments.
HB 616’s definition of anti-racist concepts like diversity, equity, and inclusion as “inherently racist” and its explicit mentions of intersectionality and critical race theory suggest a focus on the sensibilities of a narrow group of adults, rather than deep engagement with the needs and concerns of teachers and students in Ohio’s K‑3 classrooms.
Humanists “commit to treating each person as having inherent worth and dignity” and “long for and strive toward a world of mutual care and concern” (The Third Humanist Manifesto). HB 616 directly contradicts our core values by attempting to legislate away any discussion of already marginalized groups.
Listening to people’s stories is at the heart of acknowledging each person’s inherent worth. We can only move toward a world of mutual care by cultivating empathy; empathy cannot be cultivated when the stories, experiences, and histories of marginalized groups are made unspeakable.
It is for these reasons that the Board of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie condemns this bill and others like it.
We also encourage our members to communicate with their State House Representative. You can find your representative by entering your address at the Ohio House of Representatives website.
Further information about the bill can be found here:
