Glass City Humanist
Host Douglas Berger recently gave a presentation at the First Unitarian Church of Toledo, where he addressed the controversial topic of Release Time Religious Instruction (RTRI) in Ohio, with a particular focus on LifeWise Academy, which aims to provide religious education during the school day.
Christian Nationalists have targeted public schools. They ban books and discrimnate against trans kids. LifeWise Academy a well funded evangelical group based in Columbus is trying to install their model religious class in all Ohio schools without being truthful or transparent about their activities. We talk to Molly Gaines and Zachary Parrish two parents who are fighting back with their group Parents Against LifeWise.
We update a school busing dispute with implications regarding church and state separation. We also look into the expansion of school vouchers in Ohio, revealing that the program primarily benefits higher-income families already in private schools rather than helping low-income students in struggling public schools.
Rev. Gary Click the Fremont Baptist preacher who pretends to be an Ohio represenative spikes the football, smiles, and laughs as the Ohio House overrides a Governor veto on Click’s gender affirming care and trans women in sports ban. Then we look at the recent release of the State of the Secular States report from American Atheists
Did you know you don’t really need to spend years going to medical school to become a doctor in order to affect the health of people? All you need is to be elected to the state legislator. In this episode, Douglas will talk about the Ohio Legislature’s arrogant push to override the public health orders made my Governor DeWine during our current pandemic. Finally, he will talk about a good proposed law that will protect women trying to obtain an abortion in Toledo.
In this episode, Douglas talks about the lack of heroes in the atheist movement and why that isn’t a problem. Next he highlights an excellent TV program that explained why we teach US History all wrong, and finally Douglas revisits an essay he wrote about the 1st amendment violation having the Ohio state motto engraved on the grounds of the statehouse.
School vouchers are used to indirectly fund religious schools and contribute to a conservative fever dream against government-run common schools. Why are they bad for Ohio?