Released Time for Religious Instruction Expanding in Other States

Education, , , ,

Recent news reports highlight how more and more, public school students in other states are able to leave campus during the day for religious instruction — something commonly known as “released time.”

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. Thanks to federal court rulings, released time programs have been in operation for decades — and in some states it’s growing.

Earlier this year, our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) reported that Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill into law that formally recognizes released time programs. The law outlines how parents may have their children briefly excused from school during the day to receive free religious instruction off-campus. Last month, the Alabama Daily News highlighted how released time in the state has expanded since the law’s passage.

In August, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that released time growing in Arkansas’ public schools as well.

Arkansas does not have a state law outlining how released time works, but released programs operate in the state under federal court rulings. Generally speaking, released time in Arkansas requires three components:

  1. A church or other organization that wants to fund and conduct a released time program off-campus.
  2. School board approval for a policy authorizing students to leave campus for released time during school hours.
  3. Parental consent for the student to participate in the program.

Once a church or other group properly plans and prepares to operate a released time program, they can go to the local school board to seek approval and then collaborate with the school district to set the best time in the day for a released time program.

As long as the program meets off-campus, obtains parental consent, and is privately funded, then the school board may authorize the program.

The private entity that oversees the released time program is encouraged to work with the local school district and school board to set up a mutually agreeable schedule that benefits students. If planned correctly, released time programs generally do not conflict with a student’s core courses like math or English.

In June, the organization LifeWise Academy shared ways it is expanding released time opportunities for students in Arkansas.

LifeWise serves more than 1,200 students at approximately a dozen locations across the state. The program is expected to continue to grow in the coming year.

Family Council hopes to work with state and local policymakers in the future to promote released time programs and help pass a law formally recognizing released time in Arkansas.

If you are interested in starting a released time program in your community, you are welcome to contact our office at 501-375-7000 for more information.

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

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What Christian Parents Should Know About Sports Betting

Gambling, ,

The group Axis recently released a video highlighting how sports betting is harmful — especially for teenage boys.

Axis provides videos and resources designed to help parents have gospel-centered conversations with their children about faith and culture. Their recent video helps parents understand how sportsbook apps turn sports fans into gamblers and why young men are especially vulnerable.

Nationwide, sports betting is legal in 39 states — including Arkansas, where people are on track to wager nearly a billion dollars this year on sports betting alone. But a growing body of evidence shows this type of gambling is causing serious harm — especially to teens and young adults.

Studies show people who gamble on sports may be twice as likely to suffer from gambling problems. When sports gambling happens online, the rate is even higher.

Experts estimate more than half of men ages 18 – 49 now have an active sportsbook account online. While not all of these people may suffer from gambling problems, bankruptcy attorneys across the country say online sports betting is driving a surge in personal bankruptcies among young adults in their 20s and 30s.

Twenty-year-old males account for approximately 40% of calls to gambling addiction hotlines, and upwards of 20 million men are in debt or have been in debt as a result of sports betting.

In 2024, the Arkansas Problem Gambling Council announced it had seen a 22% increase in calls for help with problem gambling — driven largely by sports betting.

And a 2025 survey found one in four sports bettors worry that they cannot control their gambling. Some studies have also linked legal sports betting to increases in divorce, binge drinking, domestic violence, and violent crime.

It’s time to admit that the national experiment with sports betting has failed. The cost of sports betting isn’t just measured in dollars and cents. It’s also measured in human lives.

On the whole, most Americans do not believe sports betting has been good for society or good for sports. The NFL and sportsbooks have actually faced consumer protection lawsuits over the harm that gambling causes.

As powerful corporations try to make gambling part of everyday life, it’s important for Arkansas to protect its citizens and families from predatory gambling. Otherwise gambling addiction will simply continue wreaking havoc and hurting families in our state.

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

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Seattle City Council Unanimously Votes to Recognize Polyamory, Expand Definition of “Sexual Orientation”

Marriage, , , ,

On September 15, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance to recognize polyamory in city code.

In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state marriage laws nationwide with its Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. The decision effectively legalized same-sex marriage across the country. But it also unintentionally opened the door to polygamy and polyamory.

We have seen multiple examples of polygamists riding the coattails of the same-sex marriage movement in court and elsewhere.

Seattle’s polyamory ordinance grants special protections to “consensual relationships involving multiple partners” in city code concerning housing, employment, places of public accommodation, policing, and human rights.

The ordinance also removes the words “male or female” from the definitions of “sexual orientation” in Seattle’s municipal code, and it expands the list of sexual orientations to include pansexuality and asexuality.

Same-sex marriage’s fundamental argument is that a person should be able to marry whoever they want. If that’s true, polygamists argue, then a person also should be able to marry as many people as they want.

Back in 2015 Chief Justice John Roberts made this point when he wrote his dissenting opinion on Obergefell, saying:

“One immediate question invited by the majority’s position [regarding same-sex marriage] is whether States may retain the definition of marriage as a union of two people. . . . 

“It is striking how much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage.”

But Americans as a whole may not be as supportive of polygamy, polyamory, and pro-LGBT ideology as the City of Seattle.

Gallup’s 2026 “Moral Acceptability” survey found that among Democrats, support for changing a person’s gender is down 11 points and support for polygamy is down 10 points since last year.

Among Republicans, Gallup found only 5% support sex-change procedures, and 7% say polygamy is morally acceptable.

It’s important for Christians to remember that the Bible does not support polygamy. The biblical design for marriage is the union of one man to one woman for a lifetime. The Bible does tell stories about people who practiced polygamy. In nearly every one of those stories — from Abraham to Elkanah to Solomon — polygamy is tied to serious problems.

Marriage is about more than the rights and privileges of adults.

It’s also about the rights and welfare of children. The best place for a child is in a stable home with a married mother and father.

Polygamy and polyamory have a consistent history of demeaning women and hurting children.

Most Americans seem to understand that. Cities like Seattle should recognize it as well.

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

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