LifeWise Academy: The Project 2025 Connected Religious Release Program in Public Schools (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)

Brad interviews activist and parent Natalie Hastings, LifeWise Academy, a religious release program in public schools that takes children out of their school day for Bible study. Hastings provides insights into the program’s growth, its impact on students, and its connections to larger political movements such as Project 2025. The discussion highlights concerns about the program’s effects on school resources, inclusion, mental health, and the push for policies mandating such programs in different states.

Natalie Hastings is a public school parent who began tracking the efforts of national extremism on public schools when her own district elected four new board members who promised to “fight CRT,” canceled an opt-in Racial Diversity Awareness Day, and passed a “Culture of Kindness” resolution to restrict teaching and discussions on race, gender identity, and inclusion. She educates and activates local communities to protect the rights of every student through Honesty for Ohio Education, an alliance of 70+ nonprofit organizations and its Honesty Teams Network, a partner in HEAL Together Race Forward’s #PublicSchoolStrong initiative. Hastings also manages research for Ohioans Against Extremism, (OHAgainstExtremism.org) a new website launching in August 2024.
Interview: 

https://www.straightwhiteamericanjesus.com/episodes/lifewise-academy-the-project-2025-connected-religious-release-program-in-public-schools/

Fascism lurks behind the dangerous conflation of the terms 'partisan' and 'political'

Whereas "the personal is the political" was originally meant to flag ways in which government decisions unfairly affect and define personal lives, the mindset that "everything is political" creates a situation of perpetual conflict between divergent groups. 

That's the opposite of what politics is for and what a liberal democracy does: A liberal democracy specifically guards against using government power to further the agendas of distinctive groups. It seeks to prevent government encroachment into the private lives of individuals, and vice versa, in order to constrain the worst impulses of politicians and citizens alike. 

Fascism, by contrast, seeks to make government power an aspect of every dimension of its citizens' lives. Nazi apologist Carl Schmitt conceptualized politics as an all-consuming and literal life and death struggle between friends and enemies...

https://theconversation.com/fascism-lurks-behind-the-dangerous-conflation-of-the-terms-partisan-and-political-207277