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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSupreme Court Poised to Overturn 38 State Constitutional Amendments on Church-State Separation
Religious conservatives asked the Supreme Court Wednesday to overturn 38 state constitutional amendments and require taxpayers to fund religious schools. You read that right. The case, Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue isnt about whether a state may fund religious schools through a school choice, voucher, or similar program. Its about whether it must. And the conservatives might just win.
At issue in the case, probably the most significant church-state case on the 2019-20 docket, is Montanas no-aid amendment to its state constitution, which was revised and passed in 1972. Like similar amendments in 37 other states, it prohibits direct or indirect funding for any sectarian purpose.
In 2015, the state legislature passed a law that gave a tax credit of up to $150 for donations to a school scholarship program. But in 2018, the Montana Supreme Court struck down the program, saying it violated the 1972 constitutional provision.[JM1] Thats when a group of religious organizations upped the ante. They went to the Supreme Court, seeking not just to reinstate the program but to toss out the no-aid amendment entirely and, as a consequence, invalidate 37 similar amendments across the country.
That would open the floodgates to the funding of religious schools, especially since the plaintiffs argue that not funding thempreviously the constitutional normis actually a form of discrimination. For liberals, however, public funding of religious schools is blatantly unconstitutional.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-poised-overturn-38-190330544.html
Johonny
(20,852 posts)state education programs, abide by state certifications, abide by the affordable care act in their health care coverages ... etc.
These people always want their cake and eat it too.
Bayard
(22,100 posts)Separation between church and state will mean nothing if they win this case. We'll be back to requiring the Lord's Prayer to be recited in every school, every morning.
getagrip_already
(14,764 posts)If denying funding to one based on race is wrong, why not the other?
avebury
(10,952 posts)for tax payer finding of their schools. Christianity is not the only religion out there.
DeminPennswoods
(15,286 posts)What the groups that sue want is funding for Catholic and "Christian" schools. Just wait until the first Muslim or Hebrew school asks for funding.
rurallib
(62,424 posts)in separation of races would probably be acceptable under this potential ruling.
As long as "freedom of religion" is worked into the mix someplace.
Cosmocat
(14,566 posts)Same with "School prayer."
TheRealNorth
(9,481 posts)If Christian bakers can refuse to bake cakes for gay weddings because it violates their beliefs, I should not have to pay for children to be taught those beliefs that violate mine.