We’re about to find out what happens when the rights of the church are placed above the rights of the state… in this review of recent legal cases and religious lawsuits that impact separation of church and state
On May 23, 2023, parents and two religious educational institutions filed a lawsuit against the state of MN over their policy regarding post-secondary enrollment options allowing high school kids to enroll in college courses and get simultaneous high school and college credit.
One of the religious educational institutions that sued is the largest provider of PSEO in the state. In the previous year, Northwestern got $33 million and Crown $5 million.
The new budget signed by Governor Walz required that if educational institutions forced students to sign a “faith statement” e.g. agreeing that homosexuality is wrong, marriage is between one man and one woman, no extra marital sex etc. they could not receive the money because that is discrimination based on religion, which is unlawful. The amendment in the law came after repeated complaints about those two schools.
The religious institutions turned that idea on its head and argued that not allowing them to force students to sign such statements was discrimination based on their religion that required such a statement and thus violated the constitution. That it discriminates against other religions and the non-religious they cared not a hoot.
As expected, the plaintiff relied on prior SCOTUS decisions Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, and Carson for the principle that if you open tax dollars to private institutions, then they all get to eat at the trough. This is the drip drip drip strategy of chipping away at the constitutional norms until there is nothing left but the shell.
