Bible program wins first round in court fight with Washington school district 

A federal judge has handed an early victory to a Christian Bible education program that sued a Washington school district after officials restricted how students share and access religious materials.

U.S. District Judge Lauren King granted a preliminary injunction against Everett Public Schools, finding LifeWise Academy will likely succeed on several of its constitutional claims as the lawsuit proceeds.

The ruling marks the latest chapter in a dispute that started after the Seattle-area district imposed restrictions on LifeWise, a Christian organization offering off-campus Bible classes to public school students whose parents voluntarily enroll them.

The Lion reported in January that the organization and several parents sued the district, alleging officials required students returning from Bible classes to keep Bibles and other religious materials sealed inside envelopes in their backpacks while on school grounds.

The lawsuit also claimed students could not read LifeWise materials during free reading periods, the district blocked LifeWise from some school community events and parents faced extra hurdles when trying to excuse children for the voluntary program.

King’s ruling stops enforcement of several of those policies while the case continues in court.

“The problem is that the District’s RTRI Guidelines conflict with what the District says it allows,” King wrote.

The judge pointed to a district policy requiring religious materials distributed during release-time instruction to stay “sealed in an envelope and placed directly into the student’s backpack immediately upon their return to school.”

“As Plaintiffs note, ‘A student cannot read a Bible that is sealed in an envelope in her backpack,’” King wrote.

The court also ordered the district to allow LifeWise to participate in community resource fairs and distribute flyers under the same rules applied to other outside groups. The judge further ruled LifeWise families may use a semester-long permission process rather than obtaining approval each time a child attends the program.

The decision comes after months of controversy surrounding the organization in Everett, a city of about 112,000 people north of Seattle. More than 20,000 students attend its public schools.

The lawsuit says some public commenters and school officials accused it of promoting Christian nationalism and attempting to impose religion in public schools.

“I want to make it very, extremely, abundantly clear that yes, I do in fact hold animus toward LifeWise Academy,” said Charles Adkins, a school board member who made some of the strongest remarks cited in the case. “It is an organization of homophobic bullies who are active and willing participants in the efforts to bring about an authoritarian theocracy.”

LifeWise argued those comments showed bias against a religious group wanting to operate under rights the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized for decades.

First Liberty Institute, which represents LifeWise, welcomed the ruling.

“Targeting the operation of an out-of-school program just because it’s religious is a direct violation of the First Amendment,” said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty.

Parents and students should be able to access released-time Bible education without facing special obstacles from public school officials, said LifeWise founder Joel Penton.

“Religious release time programs such as LifeWise should be accessible to all families on a consistent basis,” he argued.