"Sometimes you just can't kick down [the door]," Eryck "Boomer" Bennett told a congregation last June. "Sometimes you got to go in cloak and dagger."
Bennett wasn't talking about a covert military operation. He was describing his strategy for bringing Christianity into the public schools of Vallejo, California – schools that were paying him to deliver secular anti-bullying assemblies at the time.
That revelation has now cost him his contract and his credibility with the district that trusted him.
A $600,000 Community Partnership Gone Awry
Here’s what happened. The Vallejo City Unified School District had signed grant-funded agreements worth more than $600,000 with a group called “JF University/Luv Our Youth” – an organization introduced to administrators as a program run by formerly incarcerated people dedicated to helping others "make better choices for themselves and their families."
Part of that deal included $3,200 for Bennett to lead an anti-bullying assembly at Wardlaw Elementary School. On paper, it looked like a straightforward community partnership.
Behind the scenes, it was something else. At Calvary Chapel San Jose, Bennett laid out a strategy he described as "Champion Academy." According to reports, here’s what he said:
I teach… it’s called Champion Academy, and our slogan is “We turn students into champions.” Now on the front end, that sounds like, “Yeah!”… but the school district don’t know, we turn students into champions for Christ. That’s the end goal, is to turn every student into a champion for Christ.
How we do that?… We start a club on the school campus... and then that club translate to a OCA which we call “off-campus activity.” That off-campus activity is where we give them Christ and Christ crucified. That’s where discipleship is started. That’s where, like, I can really get into the nuts and bolts of what Jesus did into my life. And then we get them saved and then we send them back on school campuses to turn their campus for Christ and build more champions for the Kingdom of God…
Like any good marketing strategy, there were layers to it. The anti-bullying assembly would funnel students into an after-school event, and that's where the Christian message would come out in full.
Bennett also posted on social media about using pizza to “break bread” with students and help them open up to his message.
A Name With Two Meanings
The deception ran deeper than tactics. Apparently, the district believed "JF University" stood for "Just Finished University," a name honoring the group's formerly incarcerated founders.
But according to reports, the letters actually stand for "Jesus Followr University" – the misspelling intentional – and the organization has been registered as a religious ministry since 2019. Its stated mission is to "advance biblical thought, family values, and a love for Jesus Christ."
School District Cuts Ties
When administrators learned of the sermons and the intent behind them, they moved quickly to sever ties.
"Our public schools are, and always will be, inclusive and welcoming spaces for students of all backgrounds, faiths, and beliefs," said the district superintendent. "We will not allow anyone to misuse access to our campuses or undermine the trust we place in our partners."
Bennett lost access to every campus, student, and staff member in the district.
A Familiar Debate – With a New Edge
The case lands in the middle of an ongoing national debate about faith and public education. Across the country, the question of whether – and how – religion belongs in schools has produced a string of flashpoints:
- Faith leaders in Florida pushed back against a school chaplain bill they said opened the door to exactly this kind of covert proselytizing
- An Arizona district faced backlash after striking a deal with the LDS Church to build a seminary on school property
- A Florida school that allowed a Christian church to advertise on campus found itself in a legal bind when a local Satanist requested equal treatment.
Each of these cases turns on the same underlying tension: in a country committed to the separation of church and state, what role – if any – should religious organizations play in public schools?
That question has a legal answer, even if the edges are blurry. The courts have been consistent: public schools cannot sponsor or facilitate religious instruction. Where Bennett's situation differs from more ambiguous cases is the paper trail. He documented his own intentions, in his own words, before a church congregation.
Still, the story raises interesting questions. Can faith-based organizations operate in public schools in, well, good faith? Is it possible to offer genuine secular services while keeping religious identity separate? Or does the presence of religious conviction always carry the risk of the line being crossed?
What is your reaction?
67 comments
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Edward D Torres
Christian conversion in a Nation who pledges allegiance under God needs conversion. We as educated men could not deny the History of Jesus and the impact of Christainity on World Civilization. Have you seen those Cathedrals around the world and how magnificant they are. I agree all men must choose their faith but to deny science and History for a Theory of Evolution is conversion from christianity. Students understanding we are all created equally and are endowed as Son and Daughters of the Most High God and whatever you do to least of God's Son and Daughter you do to God Himself and will give an account for every deed in blessings and cursings will help stop bullying
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Michael Hunt
Science supports the theory of evolution. There is zero scientific evidence to support creationism. To believe in Biblical creation is to deny science and history.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Michael, while I agree with you, it is interesting that if you take the timeline away, the only error in the creation narrative is the order of which came first, the fishes or the birds. The document was written in a time when the average person could not count beyond the digits on their hands and feet, so the concept of millions or billions or years would not have registered. Considering the time and lack of science, it is rather amazing that it was that close to what science has eventually verified. Since the New Testament Bible was canonized in the fourth century CE, with the Hebrew scriptures a couple of thousand years before that (or so), you have to look at it as ancient literature, not a historical or scientific document.
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Cindy Shultz
What about Lifewise infiltrating the schools openly across portions of the Midwest? What say you? Ohio passed a provision last year allowing students to leave school property mid day for religious instruction. And in some districts they are holding instruction right on school property
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Jannetje Eleanore Van Went
I say if they are going to offer religion or spiritual faiths in schools, it should just be a room for prayer, meditation, quite time or rest with a social worker who helps more with guidance than just spiritual worlds, lets face it most youth do accept guidance from their spiritual family positions, but to exclude anyone is not a solution for moral guidance, its the opposite.
Christians seem to do this a lot, it almost seems like a membership drive, maybe we need to see what they are trying to increase the membership for...still all the children's needs need to be met, spiritually and socially - if you can't provide options for all faiths in a school then its best to just provide a social worker who can guide the children to make healthy choices in life and leave religion to the family and community. Jesus is meant to be in your heart.
It is so good to see people noticing this more and not just turning the other cheek, we need more healthy investments in personally noticing and resolving the issues related to children's personal rights and freedoms being violated for an adult's personal gain.
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Thomas Glen Dye
Like anything, if they misrepresented or lied about who, and what they are, they can't be trusted. Period. Full stop.
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Tom Herman
It appears a group mislead the school system to impress their religious values on students. Any grant monies should be returned, the group misleading the school district prosecuted to thr full extent of the law and the Constitution enforced.
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Joseph Grieco
Sorry, but the school district should have done due diligence on any funding like that. Any private organization offering money to a public school system is going to have some strings attached, and often those strings will be a violation of state and federal constitutional protections.
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Lisbeth Kieran Bushey
Secular means secular. No religion.
If they want to hear Christian messages, they should go to a church or a Christian school. Public schools are for every child regardless of their faith.
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Prophet CA.JBI
I Think People Need To Look More Closely At The Word Of God , Rather Then Putting Things On AI and Not Allowing The Holy Ghost Minister To Them About The Current Situation Going On In the World Today People Has To Be aware of the signs of the 2nd Return Of Jesus Christ , Because Being focus On whether or not Donald Trump Is Jesus Christ and Really And Truly Can Be A disciple Other than Portraying a image Of Him , He Has To be careful Of What His Doing To The Body Of Christ , because many will confess Jesus but have you been through the process of Being Saved, sanctified , Holy ghost Filled and Being Water baptized. For The Bully They Have Put On The Whole armor of God And Being Prayed Up It’s not going to be easy living a holy lifestyle Yes Your Going Long suffer , But Have be Fully Aware of The Signs Of The Coming Of Jesus Christ !!!
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Kevin Joseph Kervick
The bigger problem is anti bullying programs and trauma-focused being coopted to groom LGBTQ youth. This bait and switch is well-known. Looks like a few Christians got in on the game.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Did you know that LGBTQ youth are some of the most targeted by bullies? They aren't the bullies, but need to know how to protect themselves from it. How is trying to keep LGBTQ youth safe considered "grooming" them?
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Steven Ferrell
If they can push the woke leftist alphabet agenda in schools, then the other side should also be allowed.
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William Moses
That “woke leftist agenda“ as you so cynically referred to it happens to be legal. Government organizations, like public schools, cannot proselytize. That’s illegal.
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Cheryl Pettijohn
Schools are not doing this. You probably believe they also have cat litter boxes for furries.
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Sir Lionheart
Yes, it’s crazy isn’t it. People will next be believing they also have tampons in men’s bathrooms. 🤷
Oh! But wait!
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Mrknowitall
Wow so you get to teach kids right from wrong and that Homosexuality is from Satan, keep it up !!
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Michael Hunt
I guess you get to teach children to stone those who commit adultery to death and that women should be property of their husbands or fathers. You can even teach them that slavery is moral!
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ServantOfJudgement
Quite a few STDs would be lethal or permanently damage a person without antibiotics (thanks Christians). Adultery is far more serious than today's weak and corrupted social standards. Our new morally sophisticated standards has taken a very serious offense and reduced it to a sitcom.
Did you know if you were to steal a man and sell him into slavery, God said put that man to death? I should like it very much if we did that today.
Pitiful little man will always rub his nose at God's standards. Unless of course man studies and meditates on God's laws to comprehend Why. Why did God not want adultery to the point of stoning the adulterers? The many reasons are neon bright to those who contemplate why.
Did you think it's strange that Americans, mostly black, are willingly bought, sold and traded on national television every year to the sadness and joy of all those who watch such things?
Do you like sports Michael? It's ok if you do, I personally don't. Our sophisticated moral values don't call it slavery anymore though we still buy and sell humans quite a bit, sometimes an entire factory of workers are sold in one deal.
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Michael Hunt
Comparing sports to slavery is wild. Athletes are paid massive salaries and can enter free agency to choose which team they will play for. The players themselves are not being sold or traded, their work contracts are. They are not the property of the team, they are employees.
Antibiotics were created by Alexander Flemming, a man who in his own words was not particularly religious despite being raised with a Presbyterian background. Christianity didn't give us antibiotics, science did.
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Br. Joshua
So what, Muslim groups are doing the same.
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Michael Hunt
Where?
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Rev. Kev
If a person or group has to rely on dishonest tactics then they aren't worth dealing with. Religion or not. If they are that way up front there is no reason to trust they won't continue to be deceitful in the future.
If this is how they supposedly make children "champions for Christ" then I seriously question the true level of their faith. You know...given that being deceitful is supposed to be a sin. Liars have their place in the Lake of Fire and all that.
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Penny L Larsen
My thoughts exactly. Jesus never asked his followers to be deceitful. He told them to go to houses and if not let in leave. Not to lie to get in.
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Rolando Couce
THE DEMOCRATS THE BULLIES THEY ARE THE ONE WHO TOOK PRAYER AND PLEGE OF ALLEGIANCE OUT OF SCHOOL
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John Robert Peters
Sorry. Aside from the 1 phrase in the pledge of alleigance there was no prayer in public school. And I hope you see that "under god" does not espouse any specific religion and certainly doesn't specify Christianity. Please try to be realistic and respectful of not bringing politics into a discussion of secretive Christian proselytizing to impressionable youth.
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David Douglas Winters
You speak truth. But when Christianity was removed, essentially all the moral instruction departed with it. Nothing was left but a big void. No moral standards or universal moral authority remained. The remained, in fact, no standard for reality.
Not even a universal standard of common sense could be asserted or defended. Things previously termed murder, racism, perversion, abuse, rape, pedophilia…everything and anything was open for debate or even extolled as rational lifestyle choices. (“Where nothing is forbidden everything is permissible.”)
After more than fifty years of this in public schools the results are clearly manifest, and they’re horrendously bad. It has become clear to those who are seriously concerned with our responsibilities to our following generations that the only means of overcoming this moral deficit is to get the hell out and establish our own relationship education systems be they home schools, private schools, parochial schools, or commercial undertakings. We increasingly take our children out of the public schools and if necessary abandon the counties, states, or country to do so.
The public school education system has proved itself irrecoverable, not only in moral instruction, but in all teaching and instruction. They don’t need to be infused. They need to be REfused.
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Michael Hunt
"Not even a universal standard of common sense could be asserted or defended."
What absurd hyperbole. The American education system is severely flawed but it's not because of a lack of morality in schools or lack of common sense due to Christianity being kept out of public schools. It's because Christians have systematically worked to defund public education and funnel those funds into religious schools so they can indoctrinate more children into Christianity.
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Rev. Miche'al Yosef Dixon
I found this article interesting 🤔 and hits to close to personal. In the mid-2000s after getting certified to teach rehab programs in prisons the Department of Corrections knowing I am certified ordained Minister made it clear "you can not stated any religious rhetoric in your program." I assured them I'll be neutral when teaching the rehabilitation programs. Being trained in multiple faiths I pooled the moral functional common denominator out of every faith and used that without singling out any one faith. Then on Sundays and Wednesday nights give the same prisoners a normal Neutral Christian service, Some were jailhouse Muslims. Not one complained DOC didn't whine separation of church and state. Three facilities did shut it down citing, "We can't have you rehabilitating this scum if they don't come back we'll be out of a job." The man in this article however admits he deliberately created a plan to decieve the school system. When the Apostle Paul said, "Be all the to all people" he didn't mean be a deliberate lier. That under minds the whole message of hhf Messiah (Christ). A messenger for the Messiah shall walk with their head held high letting their light shine bright not sleek in the shadows like a thief. Even thought for it is write about the Messiah, "I shall be like a thief in the night" he referred to timing and catching people unaware he'll return bright as the sun not in secret. Now, I have said this in other postings on this subject and as a Veteran of the United States Navy that fought and bleed fog the First Amendment rights. A law by Congress is not in issue in this case it's a personal decision by the management of the school system. Whether or not the man preaching on campus or not is not a 1st Amendment violation. It's a personal School system ruled violation and personal between the two parties that had a contract with each other. Untill "Congress" makes a law regulating the issue the 1st Amendment isn't an issue, plain and simple my daughters as preteens understood that.
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Father Frederick
I don't think there is any "Christian Agenda", although it does make for great fiction and allow people to vent.
What I do see in my community, is after decades of public schools, (and to some extent private schools), bullying if finally being addresses. To many educators, bullying was sort of the bad neighbor they had next door. They knew it was occurring, but because of the process and protocols it was near impossible to deal with. Typically the bully won because the system found it easier to tell them "be nice" and send them on their way. That was no deterrent, and thus it just continued.
Now I see newer educators trying the Christianity approach, however there is push back by schools who use the old tired phrase "separation of church and state" as cause, and to be very honest there are many uncaring and apathetic people in school management (including boards of education, and PTA), who just don't care.
In private schools there is more leverage, especially when the parent of a bullied student went on the offense and threatened to take down the school, and start multiple law suits against the management of the schools. That tactic is often used as the bullied student's parents and lawyer don't have to fight the government, but the principles of the corporation for education.
But as Christianity seems to be taking more of a hold in public life, it's become a tool of dealing with the bullies, the school system, and the parents of the bully. Quite diplomacy and mediation is the first step, but usually the parents of the bully, and the sloth school members, more or less indite themselves to a point where the legal system and public opinion turns on them and as they would say, the rest is history.
Oddly, bullying in school is one of those things which is never discussed publicly or mentioned on social media, until such a point as the bully maims or kills a student, or the situation reaches such a level that it can not be ignored.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Fr. Frederick,
If this was truly used as a "bullying seminar," then I would agree with you. The problem was it was co-opted, using enticements like a pizza party to get them to an "off-campus" event which did not address the topic. "Selling it" to the school district as a bully program got their feet in the door (for a nice price, mind you), but the objective had nothing to do with stopping the bullies from doing their thing. This is the definition of a "bully pulpit."
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Chris
There should be no religious programs on school property. No school-led or faculty-led prayers. No coaches praying on the field. None of that. If a child wants to pray quietly to themselves, that's one thing. To have it forced on them is quite another.
That being said, if there were no religious tones during school programs and after school "OCA" attendance was not mandatory, I can't completely criticize it. It's devious, underhanded, and not Christ-like, but that's beside the point. I would bet most students would attend once, maybe twice, and get sick of the preaching.
Either way, I'm glad the district saw through the ruse and severed ties. Anti-bullying campaigns are usually run by bullies themselves.
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Alexander Clarke
Religion has become a greater threat to the United States than any other singular thing.
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Reverend Paula Copp
When last I checked, the Constitution of the United States is still in effect…at least somewhat. Separation of Church and State is one of the hallmarks of our democracy. We need to keep it that way! No religious matter in schools!
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Jacqueline Hayes
Totally agree with you, Paula!
In public schools, religion is to be kept out of the day-to-day operation. Please keep personal religious views separate from professional responsibilities, just as political and social justice views are. If a parent is interested in a more religious upbringing, there are plenty of options for specific religions. If someone is looking to spread their beliefs through daily education, they need to find the appropriate school setting to work.
Peace be with you all.
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Sir Lionheart
I totally agree with you Paula. The Constitution is safe.
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Alexander Clarke
The Constitution has never been under greater threat than now!
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Sir Lionheart
Thank you for your opinion. That’s the beauty of living in a free country that constitutes being a Democratic Republic. I disagree with you, and that’s okay too.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Depends on where in the US you live.
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Sir Lionheart
Is it possible for you to be more specific? I’m aware we have some blue states that have “sanctuary” status, which is allowing illegal aliens to live untouched from being located and deported as best they can from law enforcement. That in itself is very unconstitutional. Is that what you’re referring to?
Did sanctuary states exist under Obama and Clinton when they deported their millions? I honestly don’t remember if they did.
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AWSII
Yes, Sir Lionheart, there were sanctuary cities/states when Obama and Clinton were deporting their millions. Sanctuary cities/states started becoming a thing in the 1980s (Reagan years).
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Sir Lionheart
Thank you for that update. 🤗
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Tom Herman
Lionheart, I do not see the connection between your shift in dialog from the manipulation of a faith based group misusing a $600,000.00 grant to immigration issues. Let's stay on topic please.
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David Douglas Winters
Hmmm…. “Last time you checked”? You’d best check again, more carefully.
Somewhere in law school it was mentioned to us that the United States is not, has never been, and was never intended, to be a democracy. And her constitution mentions no “separation of church and state.” Without that knowledge, misdirection and confusion are sure to prevail.
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Michael Hunt
We're a republic which is a form of representative democracy. You're essentially saying this Merlot isn't wine, its Merlot.
The constitution doesn't explicitly state "separation of church and state" and that's never the claim being made. The establishment clause of the first amendment provides for the separation of church and state by making it so that no law respecting one religion over another can be passed nor can someone be denied the ability to practice their religious beliefs. This creates the separation even if those words aren't explicitly used.
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David Douglas Winters
When all vestiges of Christianity were removed, essentially all the moral instruction departed with it. Nothing was left but a big void. No moral standards or universal moral authority remained. The remained, in fact, no standard for reality.
Not even a universal standard of common sense could be asserted or defended. Things previously termed murder, racism, perversion, abuse, rape, pedophilia…everything and anything was open for debate or even extolled as rational lifestyle choices. (“Where nothing is forbidden everything is permissible.”)
After more than fifty years of this in public schools the results are clearly manifest, and they’re horrendously bad. It has become clear to those who are seriously concerned with our responsibilities to our following generations that the only means of overcoming this moral deficit is to get the hell out and establish our own relationship education systems be they home schools, private schools, parochial schools, or commercial undertakings. We increasingly take our children out of the public schools and if necessary abandon the counties, states, or country to do so.
The public school education system has proved itself irrecoverable, not only in moral instruction, but in all teaching and instruction. They don’t need to be infused. They need to be REfused. But when Christianity was removed, essentially all the moral instruction departed with it. Nothing was left but a big void. No moral standards or universal moral authority remained. The remained, in fact, no standard for reality.
Not even a universal standard of common sense could be asserted or defended. Things previously termed murder, racism, perversion, abuse, rape, pedophilia…everything and anything was open for debate or even extolled as rational lifestyle choices. (“Where nothing is forbidden everything is permissible.”)
After more than fifty years of this in public schools the results are clearly manifest, and they’re horrendously bad. It has become clear to those who are seriously concerned with our responsibilities to our following generations that the only means of overcoming this moral deficit is to get the hell out and establish our own relationship education systems be they home schools, private schools, parochial schools, or commercial undertakings. We increasingly take our children out of the public schools and if necessary abandon the counties, states, or country to do so.
The public school education system has proved itself irrecoverable, not only in moral instruction, but in all teaching and instruction. They don’t need to be infused. They need to be REfused.
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Michael Hunt
Religion is not required to have morality. The Old Testament outlines plenty of things Christians believe to be moral that our society agrees now is immoral, like stoning adulterers to death or slavery or the view that women are the property of their fathers or husbands
I agree with you completely that the public education system is failing right now, but it's not because Christianity was removed, it's because the conservative movement in America has been working for decades to defund public education and funnel those funds to religious education. If we as a country actually invested in our children's education, the public school system would be so much better.
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Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
Let’s face it, this is all part of project 2025, empty the public schools and turn them into white christian nationalist schools preferably for boys only. Our school board just turned down the National Geographic middle/high school Social Studies curriculum because they said it would make white boys “feel bad about themselves.” They have hired a christian nationalist lawyer on retainer for $1800 per month after paying out over a half million dollars to the former lawyer to get her to leave. Actually it was just the board president who signed off on that payout. Oh, she was also involved in a lawsuit for faking Medicare claims for her “therapy” clinic.
Anyway the afore mentioned christian nationalist lawyer has already made his mark on several other school districts in Colorado and drained their coffers of needed $$. I’m a non-believer but am far more “christian” than he is.
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Nicholas J Page
I have said this before Religion is not for schools let the students decide for themselves not a public debate
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Susan Colmenares
Faith based organizations have no right to work in public schools.
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AWSII
And there's an example of why Christians are increasingly deemed untrustworthy. It's clearly hypocritical to proclaim yourself a champion of The Light by being a sneaky, underhanded deceiver. SMH
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John P Maher
tRUMP and ADMIN.ARE BULLIES and TRAITORs TO the U S of A, CHRIST-TIANS NO JUST RACIST BULLY COWARDs
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Fully agree with your sentiments but that writing style is annoying.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Grow up and write like an adult.
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PKBW
He's kept you alive so far hadn't he
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Alexander Clarke
He destroyed the agreement we had with Iran. He is destroying the economy. He is a wannabe dictator. He has enriched himself and his family beyond any previous president. He has surrounded himself by loyalists. He has fulfilled the Republican dream of destroying the middle class. We have never been less safe.
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Patricia Ann Gross
So did Biden and Obama and -all the way back to Eisenhower-. I can't give him credit fot that without giving all the others, too.
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ServantOfJudgement
Easy there chief! The money was not tax dollars. It happened in California where Gavin Newsom, is Governor. He's a Democrat ya know. Your President, Mr Trump had nothing to do with it.
Now that YOU know it was a state issue led by a Democrat, is Gavin Newsom's ADMIN BULLIES and TRAITORs TO the U S of A and RACIST BULLY COWARDs ?
Asking for a friend.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Mr. Maher's comment is totally off-topic (at least it appears to be), and the decision was made by the local school board, not Gavin Newsom.
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Sir Lionheart
Gavin Newsom is a problem though for California, and worse still he’s possibly thinking of running for President. Here’s a simple financial legacy problem of Newsom’s:
Nasa's Artemis ii rocket cost $4 billion.
Planning began in 2017
Passengers: 4
Miles traveled: 695,000
Gavin Newsom's Bullet Train cost $126 billion.
Planning began in 1996.
Passengers:0
Miles traveled: 0
We still don’t have it.
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Michael Hunt
The launch of Artemis II cost over $4 billion and every future launch will have a similar cost. Currently the cost of the Artemis program is approximately $93 billion through 2025 since it began in 2017. It's expected to grow to more than $100 billion in future years.
https://www.businesstoday.in/science/story/how-much-does-artemis-ii-cost-and-who-pays-for-it-523413-2026-03-31
If we do some math here, Artemis has cost over $10 billion a year while the California high-speed rail project (which started under Republican governor Pete Wilson) has cost $4.2 billion per year. It's been a project plagued with issues and setbacks for sure and it's incredibly frustrating that it's still not completed but you're being disingenuous about the costs of each program and by calling it Newsom's bullet train when he's just another CA governor trying to complete the project.
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Sir Lionheart
Yes, and we still don’t have the train, not even the first phase for another 7 years, if thats a true date. Many have obvious doubts it will ever get done, we still hardly have anything to show for it after all these years. In the meantime the Artemis program will continue to launch.🤷
https://ktla.com/news/california/california-high-speed-rail-rising-costs/
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Michael Hunt
How much land had to be purchased to build the Artemis program? Building rockets is incredibly complicated but it doesn't require the kind of land acquisition that building a high-speed rail.
I hope it gets done eventually and I wish it hadn't been delayed over and over again with rising costs but it's not an equivalent comparison to the Artemis program. We can start building rockets right away; we have to purchase the land to place a high-speed rail before it can be built. Blaming these issues on Democrats as well when it's been a project that's spanned administrations on both sides of the aisle.
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Sir Lionheart
And thats the very reason Democrats are poor businessmen. They knew this, or should have known this, when they applied for a bond. What did they base there estimate of time and money on? Now they are investigating some fraudulent mishandling of money for the homeless in California. Surprise! Surprised! 🤷
Look at the huge amount of fraud that is going on, mostly in Democrat sanctuary states recently unearthed by Nick Shirley. Now Dem’s want to pass a Nick Shirley Act to prevent the average citizen from finding corrupt organizations that professional Dem State auditors have amazingly missed, but an average citizen found.
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Michael Hunt
The project was started by a Republican governor, LH, and has spanned administrations from both sides of the aisle. You're being incredibly disingenuous if you're blaming this only on Democrats.
Nick Shirley is a right-wing YouTuber and influencer, not a journalist. He's a political provocateur who uses disingenuous tactics to push his agenda. All of his claims about fraud were completely unsubstantiated. He was previously an amateur vloger and prankster and he has no journalistic ethics. To take him seriously one needs to be uneducated in journalistic ethics, identifying unreliable sources, and desperate to confirm their bias.
The Nick Shirley Act is designed to protect immigrant service providers from harassment by restricting the online posting of their personal information and images. In other words, it prevents the average person from doxxing or harassment. You think anyone should be able to enter a building, accuse someone of a crime, harass them, and publish their public information based on no evidence of criminal activity?
I get the criticisms against the act about how this could chill independent journalism and investigations into government fraud but the bill is not intended to prevent proper journalism, only harassment.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Tennessee passed the Charlie Kirk Act which actively prevents protests at college campuses and legal immigrants who spoke out against the genocide in Gaza have had their green cards stripped for doing so. So much for protecting free speech.
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Sir Lionheart
Bless your heart. It sounds as though you might be feeling very slightly uncomfortable with this elected Administration, and that’s ok, many felt similar with the previous administration. Most of us got over it, enough to vote them out, so I’m sure you will find some comfort eventually, if this helps.
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I have read the comments on this article, and quite frankly I am appauled at some of you who still after reading the covert way this organization misslead the school district, want to push the Evangelical Christian message of God astride a white horse with drums beating and swords blazing in order to change the minds of Children!! SHAME ON YOU!! Our Public school system is designed by the Founding Fathers to be SECULAR, just as our Government is designed to be the same....We did not become a so-called NATION UNDER GOD until 1947. It was a BAD idea then, and it is a BAD idea now!! If ya'll want your children to have Religious training, that's why God invented Church and Sunday school!! Public school is a place for our children to learn to THINK independently as HUMAN BEINGS reguardless of Race, Color, Sexual oreintation, or gender.... Damn-it people!! WHEN ARE YA'LL GONNA LEARN RELIGION DOES NOT RULE THE WORLD!!! Teaching Religion is NOTHING without the actions that Christ taught us. He said to pray in our closets, Do unto others as we would have them do unto us, turn the other cheek, and let others know you are a follower of Christ by your actions, NOT your words!!!