Released Time Curricula and Programs in Arkansas

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Last week we wrote about released time at Arkansas’ public schools.

Legally in America, public schools may set aside released time during the school week for students to voluntarily attend religious classes off-campus.

Released time makes it possible for students to be excused from school so they can attend Bible studies or other religious classes during normal school hours.

Released time programs have been in operation for over 100 years across the U.S.

The number of students participating in released time programs is growing rapidly as more people become aware of it and find new resources that help educate them on starting programs in their communities.

Released time programs are typically conducted throughout grades K-12, and they normally last 30 minutes to an hour one school day a week. Some programs break up that hour throughout the week. Scheduling is typically determined by the group and the school.

Volunteers in Gravette have taught the Bible to students for over 70 years in multiple ways, including released time conducted off-campus. In 2007 the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote about the program, saying, “The tiny building [where released time takes place], which has the word Logos etched above the door, sits on a 50-foot wide piece of private property wedged between Glen Duffy Elementary and Gravette Upper Elementary School.”

Other released time programs exist in Arkansas, either independently or through organizations like School Ministries or LifeWise who provide curricula to local groups.

School Ministries has been in operation since 1991 and has helped hundreds — if not thousands — of communities “start, sustain and grow Released Time Bible Education (RTBE) programs — the only legal means to teach the Bible both academically and devotionally in the time between the first and last bell.” Breaking ground in 2019, LifeWise has also assisted parents, pastors, and faith leaders in providing a “structured, plug-and-play” model which provides communities all the tools to launch and maintain an effective program while limiting administrative duties.” Both of these programs provide beneficial help for starting and maintaining a released time program.

H.B. 1139 by Rep. Brit McKenzie (R — Rogers) and Sen. Joshua Bryant (R — Rogers) would have written released time into Arkansas law and clarified how public schools may excuse students for released time during school hours. Unfortunately, the bill failed to pass this year, but schools in Arkansas are still free to offer released time to students under federal court rulings.

Family Council hopes to work with state and local policymakers in the future to promote released time programs and pass a measure writing released time into Arkansas law.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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U.S. Attorney Takes Steps to Address Debanking in Virginia

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Late last month, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia announced plans to address debanking in the state.

The Eastern District of Virginia Equal Access to Banking Task Force “will investigate allegations of ‘debanking,’ when banks refuse customers access to credit and other financial services based on impermissible factors under current federal and state law.”

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert said,

“Access to banking services is essential in today’s modern economy, and unlawful debanking practices prevent citizens from achieving financial security. My office, along with our partners in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, is dedicated to eliminating these unlawful actions and ensuring that all Virginians can realize their own personal American dream.”

We have written repeatedly about allegations that major financial institutions deliberately targeted conservative individuals and organizations.

Recently our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom discussed how official documents indicate the federal government colluded with big banks to censor Americans.

Congressional investigations show that after the events of January 6, 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department gave banks and other financial institutions guiding “typologies” — patterns that could be used to identify suspicious people or activities — including search terms and patterns like “TRUMP” and “MAGA.”

The government also encouraged financial institutions to comb through transactions for terms like, “Bass Pro Shops,” “Cabela’s,” and “Dick’s Sporting Goods” when looking for “Homegrown Violent Extremism.”

In the summer of 2021, Family Council’s credit card processor that handled donations made via our website abruptly terminated our account after designating Family Council as “high risk.”

At 10:29 AM on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, our office received a terse email from our credit card processor — a company owned by JPMorgan Chase — saying, “Unfortunately, we can no longer support your business. We wish you all the luck in the future, and hope that you find a processor that better fits your payment processing needs.”

Within sixty seconds, our account was terminated and and Family Council could no longer accept donations online. Despite reaching out to the company for an explanation, nobody could tell us why we were designated as “high risk.” All we can do is speculate that our conservative principles and our public policy work might have had something to do with the decision to close our account.

Unfortunately, other organizations have had similar experiences as well. Corporate shareholders, state attorneys general, congressmen, and news outlets all have expressed concerns over conservatives being wrongly labeled as “high risk” or “hate groups” and subsequently debanked.

Since then, JPMorgan Chase has taken steps to prevent religiously-motivated debanking. That’s good, but our state and federal government need to make sure this sort of thing never happens to anyone again.

After all, banks that are too big to fail are too big to discriminate.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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How Can a Public School Start Offering Elective Courses on the Bible?

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We have written recently about how Arkansas law lets public schools offer elective courses on the Bible — and these courses have grown this year.

The Arkansas Department of Education has published standards that spell out what high schoolers can learn from these elective, one-semester courses.

These courses have been available since 2013, when Arkansas passed Act 1440 letting public schools offer elective, academic courses that study “the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture, and politics.”

The law says the course must be objective and nonsectarian, and it must meet the same academic standards as other elective courses in public schools. Anyone wishing to teach the course must be licensed to teach in the State of Arkansas.

In 2019, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 1016 making technical clarifications to Act 1440 of 2013, and this year lawmakers passed Act 400, the Religious Rights at Public School Act by Sen. Mark Johnson (R — Little Rock) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) affirming public school students’ and teachers’ religious liberties — including the freedom schools have to offer academic courses on the Bible under state law.

So how can a public school offer an elective course on the Bible? Here are a few points to consider:

  • It’s up to the local school board. Local districts decide whether to offer the course and choose the curriculum. School boards may vote to offer the course and find a licensed teacher qualified to teach it.
  • Courses must be nonsectarian. They must be taught objectively. They cannot include “sectarian interpretations of the Bible,” and they cannot “disparage or encourage a commitment to a set of religious beliefs.”
  • The Arkansas Department of Education offers an academic framework schools can use for establishing Bible courses. The State of Arkansas does not have an approved curriculum for the academic study of the Bible, but the Department of Education has produced official standards that spell out what these courses should cover. School districts are free to offer courses and use curricula that meet this framework. School districts do not have to get their curriculum approved by the department before offering the course.

This year, 18 school districts in Arkansas offered academic courses on the Bible. Courts have said the U.S. Constitution does not prevent public school students from being taught about the Bible and its significance throughout human history, provided that the instruction is neutral and educational. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1980 Stone v. Graham decision went so far as to say, “the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like.”

Family Council fully supports public school districts that offer academic courses on the Bible to students across the state. After all, no single book has been more influential over our civilization than the Bible.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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