(The Lion)–A federal legal battle is unfolding after a lawsuit alleged a Washington school district is forcing students to hide their Bibles in envelopes after they return to school from off-site religious classes.

For decades, the Supreme Court has affirmed that public school students may receive religious instruction during school hours, provided it’s held off-site, privately funded and is parent-approved. LifeWise Academy is a Christian nonprofit that provides such religious education, run by parents, during times of the school day when students don’t have other classes, including during recess and free periods.

Yet a new district policy in Everett Public Schools in Washington is forcing elementary school students to conceal their Bibles and other religious handouts in envelopes within their backpacks when they return to school, a lawsuit filed by First Liberty Institute on behalf of LifeWise alleges.

“It’s hard not to think it’s a joke when you first hear it. It’s so extreme,” LifeWise founder and CEO Joel Penton told The Lion in an interview. “I mean, that sounds like something from some sort of dystopian novel or something, that you’d have to seal up a Bible and envelope as though it poses some sort of danger to other students.”

The case, filed in a federal district court, raises major questions about the First Amendment and religious liberty in schools.

LifeWise began offering offsite Christian classes to Emerson Elementary School students in January 2025 and was received warmly by dozens of families who opted to join. The LifeWise lessons have a three-fold focus – head, heart and hands – Penton said. Instructors ask students to think about what the Bible stories say, then how the stories fit into the bigger picture of the gospel, and finally how they transform the way they live.”

“We’re talking about biblically grounded character and life transformation each and every week,” Penton said.

But backlash began in recent months as public commenters at school board meetings accused the organization of advancing “creeping theocracy” and infiltrating public schools with a religious agenda.” One commenter said matching shirts for students provided by LifeWise “echoes” Nazi Germany, when “Jews … would wear shirts of a certain color,” the lawsuit notes. Another protester objected to the Bible itself, saying it contains “many homophobic passages.”

Instead of disavowing the comments or staying neutral, school board directors have instead endorsed the same ideas, the lawsuit notes. Director Charles Adkins allegedly said LifeWise is bringing “white supremacy and Christian nationalism to our schools” and said the program “cannot be allowed to have access to our kids.” When LifeWise sent a concerned letter, Adkins doubled down: “I want to make it very, extremely, abundantly clear, that yes, I do in fact hold animus toward LifeWise Academy,” he said, the lawsuit claims. “It is an organization of homophobic bullies who are active and willing participants in the efforts to bring about an authoritarian theocracy.”

“It’s hard to even think it merits a response, because it’s so ridiculous to hear those accusations,” Penton told the Lion when asked about the allegations. “We are an optional Bible study program for elementary school kids,” he said, adding that he has never held or pursued political office.

In addition to forcing students to hide their Bibles, the lawsuit claims the school district has prevented LifeWise from the community fair and has prohibited the group from displaying flyers alongside other organizations. It also “uniquely burdens” LifeWise by requiring an “onerous permission-slip policy” for parents to excuse their children for offsite instruction. During quiet reading time, when students are generally allowed to read a book of their choice, they are forbidden from reading their LifeWise Bibles, the lawsuit notes.

“While students are free to read Spider Man comics about Peter Parker, the District prohibits them from reading about Peter the Apostle,” it reads. The lawsuit argues that public school officials “may not treat religious organizations as second-class citizens subject to different and worse treatment than similarly-situated secular groups.”

“The right to free exercise, like other First Amendment rights, is not shed at the schoolhouse gate,” the filing reads, citing the Mahmoud v. Taylor decision.

Everett Public Schools did not return a request from The Lion for comment about the lawsuit.

Penton said LifeWise will be in more than 1,000 schools this year, and that he has never seen a reaction as negative as the one from the Washington school district.

“In nearly every case, we operate very smoothly with a great relationship with local school officials and teachers and parents,” he said. “And it simply demonstrates that there are many, many parents that want this for their children, and their school leaders who know kids need this, and the fact that it’s entirely optional makes it a non-issue nearly everywhere.”