Earlier articles (here and here) focused on the substance of the St. Mary Parish v. Roy case, to be heard by the Supreme Court in its coming term, and briefs from religious organizations supporting St. Mary Parish. They particularly focused on the lack of general applicability in the policies established by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which denied funds from Colorado’s Universal Pre-School Program (UPK) to St. Mary Catholic Virtue School. This article will focus on additional considerations, and a related case which the court did not agree to hear (but could rule on) that were raised in two briefs.
The Problem of Discrimination against Religion
Seemingly because of the era of strict separationism introduced by the Everson v. Board of Education (1947) decision (mentioned at the beginning of Part 1 in this series of articles) the American public has become accustomed to the idea that religion may and must be discriminated against in the public square. Probably the…