In a victory for religious freedom in public education, a federal judge in Washington state ruled last week that Everett Public Schools must treat the extracurricular Bible instruction program provided by LifeWise Academy the same as other extracurricular school activities, citing First Amendment freedoms.

In a ruling issued on April 24, U.S. District Judge Lauren King granted a partial preliminary injunction against Everett Public Schools, which is just north of Seattle, saying that LifeWise was likely to succeed on the merits of their case, which contested the school district’s imposition of restrictions on the biblically-based extracurricular program that were not required of other non-Christian activities.

LifeWise Academy, which launched in 2019, enables public school students to participate in released time religious education during school hours provided that the instruction takes place off campus. The program’s curriculum takes students through the entire Bible over a five-year period, integrating Scripture into life lessons that involve knowing, taking to heart, and living out the gospel.

LifeWise has seen tremendous growth since its inception but has also ignited criticism from leftist groups who claim that the program “proselytizes” students and takes away class time, despite reports showing “improved attendance, lower discipline rates, and higher academic performance” for LifeWise participants. Still, some school districts in states like Ohio have cut the LifeWise program, claiming it “sows division and lack[s] inclusion.”

But religious freedom experts like Holly Randall, who serves as counsel at First Liberty Institute, emphasize that the LifeWise program is completely voluntary and is simply another option that public school students can choose among a plethora of extracurricular activities.

“What happened here in Washington is a case where a LifeWise program just wanted to be treated equally to other sort of secular opportunities available to students at that school,” she explained during “Washington Watch” Tuesday. “So families that wanted their children to attend LifeWise during the lunch periods once a week … they had to sign a permission slip, which makes sense for students to be released. But the permission slip process for students to be checked out to go to LifeWise … looked different than [activities] that were not religiously affiliated or were secular.”

In addition, “LifeWise materials were being required to be sealed up and away from students, so there was an issue with accessing religious materials during the school day … at times when students could be reading other non-curricular materials,” Randall noted. “And so there was a number of ways that this district was just putting barriers to LifeWise, unequal treatment and operation within the school district in ways that it wasn’t subjecting secular organizations to.”

Randall further detailed how outright hostility was directed at the LifeWise program from school administrators.

“First Liberty Institute brought a lawsuit on behalf of LifeWise, raising some of [the] concerns to the courts, the likening to Nazi party members, or statements that board members made during school board meetings about having animus towards LifeWise Academy,” she highlighted. “… And the court said essentially, ‘Making these statements and adopting discriminatory policies is evidence that you’re showing hostility toward a religious organization, and that’s what violates the United States Constitution.’ … So it’s a great lesson and a great warning to members of public bodies that you can’t sort of use your platform as a school board member or a city councilman to make discriminatory or hostile statements against religious organizations.”

In light of a new report that has surfaced this week, the open hostility toward Christianity being displayed by public school administrators should not be surprising. Defending Education released a report showing that since 2015, teachers’ unions have spent over $1 billion “in member dues and fees on political activism and left-wing social causes.”

Nicki Neily, president and founder of Defending Education, lamented that the massive amount of money being directed to left-wing political causes is explicitly anti-Christian and doesn’t reflect the views of many teachers who the teachers’ unions should be supporting.

“Many [teachers] are just average people, right? They’re grandmothers, they’re parents, they’re people who share your values and my values,” she pointed out during Tuesday’s “Washington Watch.” “And to know that their money is being directed to organizations that push for transgender equality, for abortion, for highly political engagement, supporting candidates that [Christians] don’t really like — [it’s] something I think that would take a lot of people by surprise.”

Still, in light of the Washington state federal court ruling, Randall contends that the outlook for policies protecting the First Amendment’s religious freedom rights of teachers and students in public schools remains positive.

“It’s certainly going to be persuasive authority to those districts who have school board members that may say statements publicly expressing animus or hostility,” she argued. “… And so I think it’s certainly going to send a message to school board members and school districts across the country that you don’t have free reign to just go about saying whatever you want about religious organizations and then using that motivation to enact discriminatory policies. And so I’m hopeful for the impact that this order will have. I am thankful that LifeWise had the courage to stand up and say, ‘I think that my rights are being violated here and we need to do something about that.’ And so I just encourage others [to stand up] as well.”