Where’s the controversy in what LifeWise offers to students?

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, December 16, 2025

I read with interest the article about the Everett Public School District allowing students to attend voluntary, optional off-campus Bible education during lunch and recess, and the large group of parents who are adamantly against it. (I realize I am simplifying a deeply philosophical and even constitutional argument.) The article’s author did a fine job of defending the Everett Public Schools against an as-yet unfiled lawsuit, but did not note precedent rulings by the United States Supreme Court concerning religious freedom. However, the reporter did include the extravagant name-calling done by a school board member against LifeWise and the Heritage Foundation. Animus, indeed!

Decades ago, I attended after-school Youth for Christ meetings at Everett Junior High (now Middle) School. Fewer decades ago, in a nearby school district, a friend’s daughter took a high school class about the Bible as history. Neither, at the time, was controversial, and I am unaware of any harm done to the community by young teenagers learning about the life of Jesus.

Different times we live in; same First Amendment. If a lawsuit is actually filed, it will definitely be one to watch.

Linda Reeves

Eloy, Ariz.