Proof God, Prayer Could Transform Public Schools: Atheists' Antics Could Inadvertently Fuel Gospel

A Christian leader on a mission to bring the Bible and truth to public school kids said atheist activists' recent attacks on his organization have helped spread the word about his efforts. Joel Penton, founder and CEO of LifeWise Academy, told CBN News his organization offers something truly compelling to American youths. "LifeWise Academy provides Bible education to public school students during school hours, which to most people sounds crazy, because of the whole separation of church and state and how the Bible has been removed from the public school day," Penton said. "But what very few people realize is that, in 1952, the Supreme Court actually ruled that public school students can be released from school during school hours to receive religious instruction."  Penton launched LifeWise Academy with just two schools in 2019, with the effort quickly exploring to more than 340 schools across 15 states. With LifeWise making such a massive splash, it didn't take long for the organization to come into the crosshairs of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an atheist activist group based in Madison, Wisconsin. The group recently took action to dissuade schools from taking part. "They sent a letter out to every single superintendent in the state of Ohio, in part, because LifeWise is spreading so rapidly in Ohio, and ... next year we will be in a full quarter of the 600 school districts in the state," Penton said.  But Penton said the FFRF actually ended up making a "really great" case for why LifeWise and other programs like it are perfectly legal and permissible. He also responded to the atheists' letter with a fair amount of gratitude for the attention it garnered. "We were asked to make a public comment about them sending this letter, because we heard about it and, of course, we publicly thanked the Freedom From Religion Foundation for investing their time and money to spread the word about LifeWise," Penton said. "Because ... when People learn about it, they tend to get pretty excited, and the people that don't like it are a very, very small minority." But far beyond platitudes and areas of debate, Penton said he believes there's evidence LifeWise Academy is very literally helping kids in all areas of their lives. He recently commissioned a study juxtaposing schools where LifeWise Academy has been implemented against locations where it has not been put into place. "When LifeWise is implemented, attendance increases significantly," Penton said. "Kids are that much more interested in going to school that there's in fact a net increase in class time if LifeWise is implemented." He continued, "Many more kids come to school so much more regularly that they actually get a net increase in class time." -- Welcome to "The Newsmakers Podcast," a show where we go behind the headlines each day to bring you interviews with pastors, entertainers, politicians, and other notable figures. Based on the "Newsmakers" show on the CBN News Channel, this daily podcast featuring CBN's Billy Hallowell provides full interviews with one newsworthy person every weekday.