Questions arise about discrimination in religious schools
Modified: 5/9/2021 10:00:10 PM
MONTPELIER A spate of national and state-level court rulings have been clear: States, including Vermont, cannot discriminate against religious entities when doling out public subsidies, including taxpayer-funded school vouchers.
But can those schools then discriminate against their own students?
That question rose to the surface recently when former Vermont education secretary Rebecca Holcombe tweeted out a screenshot taken from the handbook of Grace Christian School, a religious institution located in Bennington. The small K-12 school’s “Statement of Faith” compares homosexuality to incest and bestiality, and states that “rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.”
Legal Colorado Christian school seeking broad ministerial exception from 10th Circuit
Daniel Wiessner
5 minute read
A devotee holds a rosary as Pope Francis visits St. Peterâs Parish church in the Sam Phran district of Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand, November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Ann Wang - RC24GD9L5AHG
A U.S. appeals court panel on Tuesday will take up the latest high-profile case to test the limits of an exemption from anti-discrimination laws for religious schools, with a Colorado Christian academy claiming it should apply broadly to teachers, chaplains and other leaders.
Daniel Blomberg of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who represents Faith Christian Academy, will urge a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that the ministerial exception shields the school from a former faculty member s claims that he was fired for organizing a chapel service focused on combatting racism.
A teacher speaks with students in the classroom and online as they return to in-person learning at St. Anthony Catholic High School during the COVID-19 pandemic on March 24, 2021, in Long Beach, California. | PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
An Indiana court has dismissed a lawsuit filed against a Roman Catholic Archdiocese by a former private school teacher who was fired for being in a same-sex marriage.
Marion Superior Court Judge Lance D. Hamner issued an order Friday in favor of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit by former teacher Joshua Payne-Elliot.
According to the order, the court concluded that there was a “lack of subject matter jurisdiction” and “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”
The U.S. Supreme Court building, Wikimedia Commons, Daderot.
On Friday, a coalition of Roman Catholic, Baptist, Anglican, and Lutheran churches and charities asked the Supreme Court to consider whether or not New York’s abortion mandate violates their religious freedom. New York requires employers to cover “medically necessary abortions” broadly defined in their employee health care plans. While the mandate includes a religious freedom exemption, it does not apply to pro-life entities unless they only serve members of the same religion, among other things.
The Christian groups appealed to the Supreme Court, asking the Court to take up the case because it presents an opportunity to clarify critical religious freedom issues after many cases involving the COVID-19 pandemic. These churches and charities noted that if the abortion mandate remains in place, they will have to violate their core beliefs, cease offering health insurance to their employees, or shut down altogether.
Apr 16th, 2021 4 min read
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Legal Fellow, Meese Center
Sarah Parshall Perry is a legal fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Cleland’s ruling flipped the script. In fact, it was InterVarsity that had been discriminated against by Wayne State, whose actions were “obviously odious to the Constitution.” SDI Productions / Getty Images
Key Takeaways
Campus groups, students, and professors who aren’t interested in kowtowing to groupthink have had a run of good luck lately in federal courts.
InterVarsity’s constitution allows all students to join the group as members, but leadership positions are limited to those who agree with its statement of faith.