How LifeWise Grooms Kids to Hate Through Bible Study
Uncloseted Media »
May 3, 2025
LifeWise Academy is a conservative Christian organization that takes public school students off school property to “integrate a Bible class into their weekly class schedule.” It was founded in 2018 by Joel Penton, a former college football player.
For an hour a week, students from kindergarten through 12th grade learn about religious concepts rooted—in part—in homophobia and transphobia. For example, students are taught that anything other than a nuclear family, with one mom and one dad who are married, is wrong and that there is no such thing as being transgender.
I could not have written this piece without the support of many parent activists who have been fighting LifeWise in their communities for years.