In a recent article in Newsweek, Richard Garnett, Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame and RFI FORIS Scholar, and Olivia Rodgers, a second year law student at the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Initiative, write:

The last 18 months have reminded us that, when it comes to educating young people, one size most definitely does not fit all. Pluralism and diversity, not sameness or monopoly, make for a successful schooling enterprise. And, today as in the past, religious schools play a vital role in the project of preparing the citizens and leaders of tomorrow.

Unfortunately, the state of Maine’s school-funding policies ignore these truths. What’s more, they violate the First Amendment and recent Supreme Court rulings prohibiting discrimination against religion.

Maine provides tuition assistance for students who live in districts without a public school—unless they want to attend certain religious schools. Even if a school meets the state’s accreditation and curriculum requirements, if it promotes religious belief or incorporates aspects of religious practice, it’s out. This discriminatory rule imposes an unjust choice on parents and children: abandon the richness of a religious-school education or give up otherwise available financial support.

The U.S. Supreme Court this month is considering a case that deals with this troubling ultimatum. In the relevant case, Carson v. Makin, the justices will decide whether the policy in Maine violates the First Amendment’s free exercise provision. RFI’s Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team joined an amicus brief in this case. The question before the Court, Garnett and Rodgers argue, is based on a faulty distinction between religious “status” and religious “use.” Proponents of the state’s policy contend that “the Constitution allows governments to exclude religious ‘uses’ from public benefits.”

The problem, however, for many faith-based schools is that “‘religious’ is not simply what they are; it is also what they do.”

Garnett and Rodgers provide numerous examples of religious schools from different faith traditions that render the “status/use” distinction inapt. They write, “There is no separation between their identities as religious schools and their educational curricula; the integration of faith into all aspects of schooling is an indispensable element of what it means to be a religious school.”

Read the full article: States Must Stop Discriminating Against Religious Schools.