States not required to fund religious scholarships

The Supreme Court ruled Feb. 25 that, while the First Amendment may allow a state to fund scholarships to religious schools, it doesn’t require all states to do so.

In their Locke vs. Davey decision, the justices handed a major victory to supporters of church-state separation and a significant defeat for proponents of government funding for religious enterprises. The decision- a surprise both in its timing and in its lopsided 7-2 margin – was handed down less than three months after the court heard oral arguments in the case.

It pitted the state of Washington against one of its residents who was denied a state-funded college scholarship because he had chosen ministerial studies as his major. The court ruled that the state had the right to deny Davey the scholarship by appealing to a section of its state constitution that forbids even indirect government funding of religious instruction.

The court’s opinion cited the history of state laws from around the country that explicitly forbid the imposition of taxes to pay for clerical salaries or training. The justices said Washington had a compelling state interest in maintaining that tradition.

“Given the historic and substantial state interest at issue, we therefore cannot conclude that the denial of funding for vocational religious instruction alone is inherently constitutionally suspect,” wrote Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who wrote the majority’s opinion.

In the case, Joshua Davey applied in 1999 for the state’s Promise Scholarship Program, which provides state-funded tuition grants, or vouchers to disadvantaged Washington students. The scholarships may be spent at any accredited Washington college, including religious ones.

Davey qualified for the scholarship and elected to spend it at Northwest College, a Seattle-area Bible college affiliated with the Assemblies of God.

However, the state revoked the grant when Davey declared a double major that included pastoral ministries. State guidelines for the program permitted it to be spent at religious schools but not for pre-ministerial courses of study.

(ABP)