Washington School District Pays Up After Anti-Christian Discriminationhttps://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2026/10/16/washington-school-district-pays-up-after-anti-christian-discrimination-n4958395A Washington state public school district is making a settlement in a case where it blatantly discriminated against Christian students who had an off-campus prayer group.
The members of the prayer group took Everett Public Schools (EPS) to court over the LifeWise Academy-sponsored group, which meets during school hours, but not on the school campus. The settlement included “$275,000 in attorney’s fees, instituting required religious liberty training, and an apology from EPS,” according to Everett Post. EPS was trying to restrict the group’s growth as much as possible, while accusing it of encouraging hatred against homosexuals.
The religious liberty training is for the EPS Board of Directors, which will also have to adjust the district’s policies regarding religious activities. EPS confirmed this settlement to the Everett Post while also rushing to reassure the local outlet that it is not affiliated with any particular religious group or belief system. 
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LifeWise first wrote to EPS back in November 2025, expressing concern about the potential discrimination against Christian students. The next month, LifeWise sued EPS.
EPS itself admitted in the quote above that the students are allowed to take some time out of the school day for a religious group so long as the group is not meeting at the school. But EPS was reportedly forcing students who were part of the prayer group to seal up their Bibles so that other students wouldn’t be able to see them. The prayer group also found that EPS would not permit it to put up flyers where other groups had them or participate in community resource fairs, The Christian Post reported. Board member Charles Adkins accused the group of “homophobic hatred,” and parents had to resubmit permission slips constantly. EPS received a preliminary injunction from a U.S. district court earlier this year.
Evidently, LifeWise Academy had a program that used the EPS release time policy that allows release for any educational purpose. Religious instruction would be included under this broad umbrella. The public elementary school I attended in the 1960s had something similar.
When a school has such a thing - available to all - it cannot discriminate. That is what the school district did through restrictions on the program's materials
("Hide your Bibles!"), not allowing on-campus public posters other groups were allowed, and messing with students' permissions. Board member Charles Adkins was, of course, free to express his bigoted ignorant opinion, but doing so while the group was being discriminated against and harassed was a moron-move. It was evidence that the discrimination was intentional and originated in district leadership.
So, what does LifeWay Academy teach? Here's a look at their curriculum,
https://lifewise.org/curriculum/ . "Gratitude", "Responsibility", "Respect", "Obedience", "Patience" ... how homophobic ... and racist and misogynistic, too! The Bible Project, source of the curriculum, has been around some 12 years,
https://bibleproject.com/about/ . Here is their webpage showing their numerous videos,
https://bibleproject.com/videos/ . I think one of my then-adult munchkins met the founders in 2013 or 2014 at a YWAM base.
On the off chance that a DU onlooker sees this post and reads this far, would I be upset if the religious group being discriminated against were, e.g., Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, or Sikh? Yes. They all have First Amendment "Free Exercise" and "Free Speech" rights.
Of course, in current US reality, public schools would only discriminate against theologically conservative Christian and religious Jews. Public schools trying to impose discriminatory anti-Christian and -Jewish restrictions has been happening every year, for decades. Public schools look the other way in discipline when the target is Christian or, especially, Jewish. Schools doing such @#$% lose in court and pay taxpayer $$$ for it. It's been going on long enough that ignorance of the law is not their reason. They are bigots who think they might get away with it and don't care, because it's taxpayer $$$ and know they won't suffer consequences.
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