More than 125 North Carolina faith leaders joined together to urge the governor and legislature to reject a state budget provision guaranteeing public school students up to four hours per week of off-campus religious instruction.
The release time for religious instruction policy was added as an amendment to an omnibus K-12 education bill in June requiring school districts to allow students to undergo private religious instruction during the school day.
“We have serious academic and religious freedom concerns for students.”
“We have serious academic and religious freedom concerns for students,” the clergy, faith education and formation professionals and other religious leaders said in a letter to Gov. Josh Stein and members of the North Carolina General Assembly. “We believe the way this RTRI policy is being enacted is in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s dual religious protections for free exercise and no establishment of religion.”
The letter circulated by Pastors for North Carolina Children notes similar laws in other states have generated lawsuits around teacher involvement in religious education, preferential treatment of students involved in the programs and the distribution of religious materials during the school day. “This has been shown to lead to socially coerced religious participation and increases in bullying and ostracization of students,” the letter says.
According to the Secular Education Association, 18 states have enacted laws mandating such practices while another 13 give districts the discretion of whether to adopt off-campus religious instruction policies.
The organization cited the influence of LifeWise Academy in lobbying for RTRI laws and identifies North Carolina as a state where the evangelical education has been working to provide Bible-based character training programs for public school students.
LifeWise Academy is a $35 million organization known for peer-to-peer proselytizing and using bright red buses to transport students to and from off-site religious training sessions.
“They do not just support these laws — they wrote the bills themselves to advance their agenda and corporate interests,” the association said about LifeWise.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1952 that released time for religious learning is constitutional as long as the instruction is held off school property, parental permission is granted and taxpayer dollars are not used in the process.
Republican state Sen. Brad Overcash cited the growing acceptance of such programs nationally when he introduced the religious instruction amendment. “These programs are important to help build the moral and religious character of our students,” he said.
But religious leaders opposed to the plan warned the policy will reduce instructional time, disrupt learning environments and create safety issues for children when they are off campus and away from parental and school staff supervision.
“Children are being transported by volunteers during the school day without adequate training or safeguards. The risk to children is simply too great,” they wrote. “Under this provision students could miss 160 hours of instructional time each year, which is nearly 16%.”
The letter represents support for public schools and a pledge not to participate in school-day religious instruction. “As faith leaders, we gladly welcome children and families to join us for faith formation before or after school or on weekends when it does not require choosing between school and religious instruction, as we believe both are important,” the signers say.
“Public schools are not Sunday schools. By forcing districts to include weekly religious instruction in the school day, we strongly believe the current NC budget provision mandate is counter to this original intended purpose for RTRI and should be removed immediately.”
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