Christian Group WINS Big After School District Allegedly Targeted Bible Program

The CEO of a Christian organization that teaches the Bible to kids during the public school day is celebrating a recent legal victory against a school district he believes was unfairly restricting his group's efforts. As CBN News recently reported, a federal judge has stepped in to temporarily halt seemingly blatant anti-Christian discrimination waged against Lifewise Academy at the hands of Everett Public Schools, a public district in Washington state. Joe Penton, who heads Lifewise, told CBN about his organization's aim and why he believes the district began taking aim at their activities. "We provide Bible education for public school students during school hours," Penton said. "We take kids under release time — religious instruction laws and the Supreme Court ruling — we take kids off school property during the school day, teach them a Bible lesson, and bring them back to school." Lifewise has quickly spread throughout the US, with one program emerging a few years ago in Everett, Washington — a chapter Penton said has been "going incredibly well." "[There are] dozens of families involved, making a big impact on those kids and the community," he said. "However, there were some who, I guess you could say, want to stir up trouble, and we have those who oppose our efforts because, as you can imagine, we teach the Bible." Penton said a school board member upped the ante on criticism, which led to restrictions that forced Lifewise to sue the district. "We started seeing policies come down that were specifically targeting us and discriminating against our program," Penton said, offering up some examples. "The community fairs where every organization that serves students would come together to kind of sign kids up and promote what they do to students, all of a sudden, we were not allowed to be there anymore." Other issues concerned a permission-slip policy that purportedly required parents to sign their children up weekly, a departure from other programs that required only one permission slip per semester. This was one of the most pervasive issues that perpetuated the legal drama unfolding between the district and Lifewise. "[That policy is] going to effectively shut down your interests if you have to go into the school office every single week to sign your kid out for this class that lasts all semester," Penton said. He initially worried the legal proceedings that followed would be long and drawn out, but a judge recently issued a preliminary injunction reversing the aforementioned policies while the dispute progresses. Give to CBN: https://go.cbn.com/un2xC Want more news from a Christian Perspective? Choose to support CBN: https://go.cbn.com/ugWBn CBN News. Because Truth Matters™ Download the free CBN News App: http://cbnnews.com/app SUBSCRIBE to the CBN News Channel for more: http://youtube.com/c/CBNnewsonline/?sub_confirmation=1 SUBSCRIBE to the QuickStart Newsletter by visiting quickstart.news SUBSCRIBE to the Quickstart Podcast. New episodes every morning at 7am: cbn.com/cbnnews/quickstart What's coming up next? Have a look at our program guide: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww1.cbn.com%2Fcbnnews%2Fnewschann&redir_token=3Xja-7LE5ZQebEu1fn-B5ib34tN8MTU3OTg4MjMzMkAxNTc5Nzk1OTMy&v=P0mHVeNNfDw&event=video_description CBN features 24-hour TV news from a Christian perspective. The CBN News Channel provides independent news programming to an underserved audience to enlighten, entertain and inspire Christians around the world. Comments below do not necessarily reflect the views of CBN. Share this live feed with your friends and family: https://www.youtube.com/c/CBNnewsonline Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbnnews/ Like us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CBNNews Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cbnnews/ Contact News Editors: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww1.cbn.com%2Fcontact%2Fcontact-&redir_token=3Xja-7LE5ZQebEu1fn-B5ib34tN8MTU3OTg4MjMzMkAxNTc5Nzk1OTMy&v=P0mHVeNNfDw&event=video_description Questions about other CBN programs: Visit WatchCBNNews.com or call (888) 700-7000. Questions about supporting CBN News? Visit JoinCBNNews.com or call (888) 700-7000 for more information. Questions about Helping the Home Front? Call: 800-700-7000 https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww1.cbn.com%2F700club%2Fhelping-&redir_token=3Xja-7LE5ZQebEu1fn-B5ib34tN8MTU3OTg4MjMzMkAxNTc5Nzk1OTMy&v=P0mHVeNNfDw&event=video_description #breakingnews #politicalnews #christiannews #christian #christianity #church #breakingnews #cbnnews