An Ohio school is implementing Bible study in public schools and hopes to spread it nationwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The program is called LifeWise Academy, which launched in 2018 and is in more than 300 schools in a dozen states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There should be a separation between religion and public education. We must protect our citizens\u2019 constitutional rights. Separation of church and state was set in place for a reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surrounding students with unlicensed chaplains serving as counselors who may have ulterior motives is unacceptable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is an injustice to force students into a religious environment, rather than a place in which education is prioritized.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instructional time is not meant for prayer, especially when it excludes students of different religions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Including this program in public schools while the government is trying to remove DEI and LGBTQ inclusion shows the lack of seriousness given to all communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If schools value equality and wish to teach younger generations fairness for all, then it starts by including not only those with religious beliefs but those with personal beliefs as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the landmark McCollum v. Board of Education<\/em> Supreme Court case, the court found that \u201cneither a state nor the federal government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws that aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force or influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against their will or force them to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Program leaders are not supposed to promote or encourage these public-school students to join LifeWise. However, students are being used to promote their program by getting a pizza party or receiving ice cream if they bring in a student. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here on campus, we have organizations like LifeWise Academy, but there is a difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At this age, we have a choice to be religious or to be a part of a religious group, it is a way for people to express themselves and participate in things they take an interest in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is crucial to understand that what LifeWise Academy is doing should be considered unconstitutional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While allowing students to practice religion during school should not be criticized, deliberately incorporating religion into a school curriculum should be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only does this enforce beliefs onto students, but it raises concerns about erasing the line between Church and State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An Ohio school is implementing Bible study in public schools and hopes to spread it nationwide. The program is called LifeWise Academy, which launched in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":10463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[150],"class_list":["post-10460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"aioseo_notices":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"authors":[{"term_id":150,"user_id":20,"is_guest":0,"slug":"staff-reports","display_name":"Staff Reports","avatar_url":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/0437b672851a8a9f7b27b17b33805122.jpg?ver=1778634720","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10466,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10460\/revisions\/10466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10460"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=10460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}