“Anodos Awakening”

For much of American history, education was understood to be about more than mere academic achievement. A truly great education also formed students’ hearts toward virtue and away from vice—toward meaning, and away from despair. Christian formation, in particular, prioritised love, truth, beauty, sacrifice, and the promise of a life filled with higher purpose.

Beginning in the late 1950s, Christian formation was removed from public education in the name of “neutrality.” In the decades that followed, the consequences of this shift have become increasingly clear: significant rises in self-reported meaninglessness and despair, sharp declines in happiness and life satisfaction, and growing confusion around identity and purpose.

Recognising this, the Iowa Legislature in 2025 reaffirmed the long-standing, practice of religious release-time instruction through the passage of HF 870. This bipartisan law—passed unanimously by the Iowa Senate—restores students’ ability to receive religious formation during the school day and reflects a renewed understanding that education is not merely about information, but about forming the whole person.

Courts and legislatures have recognized that religious formation is understood not as an extracurricular afterthought, but a core part of child development. Limiting religious instruction to after school effectively disadvantages religious families. Release-time exists precisely to provide equal access by allowing parents—rather than schedules or logistics—to decide whether religious instruction belongs within the normal rhythm of a child’s education.

No—public schools do not offer or influence the program; they simply allow parents to temporarily excuse their child for crucial religious formation. Courts have repeatedly upheld release-time as constitutional when it’s parent-directed and privately funded.

No—It’s opt-in religious formation chosen by parents and students, not imposed by the school or the state. The alternative to religious or values-based formation isn’t ‘neutrality’—children are always being formed by the people, media, and institutions around them—so release-time simply allows families to be intentional and responsible for that formation.

Sunday School is essential for learning the stories and teachings of the faith, but it’s often insufficient to help students integrate those truths into a coherent, defensible, livable worldview.

Release-time classes go deeper through an academic lens—helping students understand why Christianity makes sense, recognize heavenly patterns around them, and form a more robust Christian worldview.

Put simply, Sunday School introduces the faith while release-time classes help students understand it deeply enough to live it.