ICC Note: A school district in Michigan recently decided to ban students from leaving campus to attend a voluntary Bible class during their lunch hour. The class is offered by Fremont Wesleyan Church and is taught to approximately 100 students, all of whom have submitted written permission slips from their parents. Now that the school district has restricted this practice, a legal group has issued a letter to the superintendent on behalf of the church, hoping that the ban will be lifted.
By Heather Clark
05/22/2017 United States (Christian News Network) – A legal group representing a church in Michigan is pushing back after a school district recently decided to no longer allow students to leave school during lunchtime for off-site voluntary religious instruction.
The law office of Rickard, Denney, Garno & Associates, which is allied with the religious liberties organization Alliance Defending Freedom, sent a letter on Friday to the superintendent of Fremont Public Schools in hopes that he will reverse the decision.
“[W]e believe the school’s decision is unlawful and we respectfully request it to be reversed immediately,” the correspondence stated.
According to reports, the Fremont Wesleyan Church has been offering the Bible Release Time program for Daisy Brook Elementary School students, a 45-minute class that is optional and only for those whose parents have signed a written permission form.
The program, led by John Perkins, is held once a month during the lunch period, and the church transports students to and from the study. An estimated 100 children attend.
“Bible Release Time is a program permitted by Michigan law, whereby children are released from school classes during school hours to attend religious instruction at a nearby location,” read a flyer sent home to parents with the permission slip.
