Once again, an apparent religious dispute has risen to the level of Supreme Court review. The underlying dispute is absurd and a red herring argument. The dispute rests on challenge to a decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to deny public funding to a religious charter school [Catholic]. The state court ruled that a charter school is a "public school" and thus not entitled to public funding. The dispute centers on interpretation of the First Amendment provisions regarding free exercise of religion and non-establishment of religion by the state.
Previous SCOTUS rulings have laid out the groundwork for resolving such potential controversies, and it is odd that the Oklahoma Court was not sharp enough to use the guidance of those precedent. For decades, public funds have been used to support parochial schools, but ONLY for providing services which are essentially non-sectarian. For example, if the school curriculum supported is basic math, science or English, there is no "establishment clause" violation for providing educational services for students. The challenging part is when the content of curriculum drifts into religious doctrine and inculcation of religion. The SCOTUS guidelines indicate that those functions may be performed by the school but not supported by public funding. Admittedly, this does enter a difficult area in which a court must examine the content and intent of instruction in a school operated by a religious group. But a detente has been reached in most quarters, where parochial schools have generally agreed to segregate curriculum voluntarily in exchange for the benefit of partial public funding. Peripheral disputes have arisen over questions about who can teach in such schools, and unwed pregnant women have been rejected as teachers for ANY subject when the religious doctrine indicated they did not adhere to the religious beliefs of the operating group. The Oklahoma decision, however, did not turn on such finer points. Instead, the court bluntly ruled that a charter school has to be non-sectarian.
The state court ruling will likely be overturned because it is too broad. It should be returned to the state court for examination of what education is actually proposed for being funded by the public treasury. The argument that the denial of public funding is based upon the religious beliefs of the diocese proposing to operate the school is a red herring, a false flag. A proper denial of funding would NOT be "based on the religious beliefs" of the school operator, but rather upon the curriculum and how it was being taught. It would not matter what religious sect made the proposal for funding, Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, or Muslim, as long as the funding provided was to be used for general education and non-sectarian curriculum instruction. The funding body for the state could legitimately demand public review of the curriculum to compare with state and national standards. Anyone challenging the funding could bring in evidence of religious study or indoctrination actually taking place in the classrooms.
There is, of course, room for mischief. Some religious groups may want to substitute "creationism" for scientific theories of evolution and natural selection. Some current sects may teach, as "science," that all vaccines are dangerous, despite rigorous testing and FDA approval. Some sects may believe and teach that the earth is flat, despite all scientific evidence to the contrary. Some sects may believe that only specific religious volumes should be taught as "literature," despite state established curriculum standards. Some believe that chattel slavery did not exist in the US, and that Africans came to the continent as "indentured servants." All such notions could be readily exposed and could result in denial or withdrawal of public funding.
The real danger of such misguided and misinterpreted cases being subject to SCOTUS review by THIS high court is the danger of a politically driven ruling that goes beyond the parameters of the case or controversy itself. The current conservative majority has been looking for opportunities to push its political agenda. A "sloppy," poorly reasoned, or ungrounded decision could open doors for broader diversion of public funding to religious organizations and enterprises that would not be necessary based solely upon the question of one specific funding application for a charter school should or should not be granted. Such concern should not be major if we were faced with a SCOTUS that could be trusted to respect precedent and make rational and principled decisions. Unfortunately, the current SCOTUS has the confidence of only 30% of the public, and with good reason. So, religious posturing on a rather narrow case could provide a platform for political posturing by a corrupted SCOTUS.
Supreme Court will weigh approval for US’ 1st publicly funded religious charter school, in Oklahoma
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