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This was a very narrow ruling and comes in response to Missouri's "Blaine Amendment" that banned churches/houses of worship from receiving tax payer funds.
All the SCOTUS basically stated was that a state cannot discriminate against a non-profit just because it happens to be a church. It was noted in arguments before the courts that the playground in question is open to any and everyone, and is not used for strictly religious purposes.
Rationale behind this decision appears to rest upon you cannot discriminate against someone because of their religion. The majority in this case decided refusing to grant a non-profit the same chances to access tax payer funds for that playground just because the application came from a church was discriminatory.
If you read the entire decision including the opinions even the Chief Justice went to great pains to say the decision affects only this particular case. Reason for this is simple; there was a large body of persons hoping the court would rule broadly and thus strike down the Blaine Amendments currently part of some thirty-nine states. Much of that group is made up of those backing charter and religious schools who are barred by states with such amendments from directly receiving state taxpayer funds.
For the record MO soon after the affected church filed a lawsuit changed their laws to allow religious/churches to apply and receive grant funding. In fact in the view of most legal followers this was a bad case that made bad law. For now it seems all but certain the various groups mentioned previously are now emboldened and all but sure to file legal challenges directly aimed at those thirty-nine states.
we all know "being open to everyone " is ofen cover for virtually exclusive use. I was part of a group that recently defeated a 100 million dollar "open for everyone" project that would clearly have ended up being an asset of two commercial entities that would have dominated it. We borrowed a tactic from the hard right to beat them.
I am not particularly upset by this new ruling, i was more interested in seeing how the rightwing would defend it and completely ignore the eroding of state rights but this time they liked the outcome.
And it does of course mean more churches will seek funding due to this ruling, and we will see a tax exempt group use our dollars to build out a lot more than playgrounds. they will want , nope i mean demand funding for many other costly projects and cry foul whenever the answer is no.
so you are happy when funding rulings go your way, but upset and see doom and gloom when they dont?
please link to where i was happy to see funding go a different direction. I put real time and money into fighting private clubs from taking public monies into which they dont put a nickel.
Do you? I beat a 100 million dollar project recently what did you do in real life to curtail vested interests dipping into state and federal coffers?
it is not that some choose too fund religious schools, it is this new federal requirement Demanding that states fund them even if the state constitution says they should not or do not have to.
This is a two fold issue.
1 the legal requirement to fund despite the supposed separation
2 the federal government overriding states yet again.
Again, as I posted, there is no separation. Taxpayer funding already goes to private religious schools, and has been for quite some time. And, no, States can't discriminate based on religion. That's unConstitutional.
Again, as I posted, there is no separation. Taxpayer funding already goes to private religious schools, and has been for quite some time. And, no, States can't discriminate based on religion. That's unConstitutional.
Federal and local taxpayer money goes to a vast number of religious and or affiliated institutions. Something like one in six hospitals in this country is owned, run or otherwise affiliated with the Roman Catholic church. This on top of nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities/services. Yet they all receive federal/state funding via Medicare and or Medicaid as least. Then there are all those Catholic colleges and universities that receive federal funds via student loans and other financial assistance.
Well if this is correct , Welcome to the Theocracy of the USA. Maybe we should call it the UTA (United Theocracies of America.)
""""entities cannot be categorically denied public money even in states whose constitutions explicitly ban such funding""""
searched did not see this story post yet, maybe i am just rubbish at searching..
It's almost certainly an unintended consequence of anti-discrimination laws. If you cannot X a person or group of Religion (or lack thereof of) Y, that applies in all cases. So if you can't stop immigration of Muslims for being Muslim, you can't deny an otherwise qualified payment to Christians for being Christian.
It's one of the side effects of multiculturalism and acceptance. As I've often said, be careful what you wish for, because you may just get it.
The Supreme Court did not okay public funds going to religious schools. In this case the funds were for a public playground built by a church. Supreme Court ruled that since the playground was open to the public then public fund were okay
They also requested that the lower court review the school voucher program as part of the ruling.
Federal and local taxpayer money goes to a vast number of religious and or affiliated institutions. Something like one in six hospitals in this country is owned, run or otherwise affiliated with the Roman Catholic church. This on top of nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities/services. Yet they all receive federal/state funding via Medicare and or Medicaid as least. Then there are all those Catholic colleges and universities that receive federal funds via student loans and other financial assistance.
What's with all the Catholic references? Southern white baptists are far more polically influential. I saw trump give a gad speech at Liberty university. Did not see him do that at Norte dame.
Federal and local taxpayer money goes to a vast number of religious and or affiliated institutions. Something like one in six hospitals in this country is owned, run or otherwise affiliated with the Roman Catholic church. This on top of nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities/services. Yet they all receive federal/state funding via Medicare and or Medicaid as least. Then there are all those Catholic colleges and universities that receive federal funds via student loans and other financial assistance.
Certainly a grey area but I view research institutions and hospitals differently than grade schools.
I sent my kids to Catholic grade school and I'm against this. You start taking funds and they start telling you what to do.
Bad idea.
Quote:
Originally Posted by unit731
This one is not of particular importance.
Already taxpayers pay for the busing of private school children. The private schools do not have to pay for busing or obtain their own busses. I have seen Amish children get on school busses in Pennsylvania. Have no idea what schools these children going to.
The above case was about playgrounds at private schools.
I don't know how you can make a statement like this. I can't even make a definitive statement and I was on the school board. We PAID the bus company for their services. But I only know about our school.
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