LETTER: Supreme Court case on religious school funding could lead to a dangerous precedent
The Supreme Court’s consideration of public funding for religious education is dangerous in a variety of ways.
The separation of church and state has kept the United State free of the absolute power that accompanies church/state marriage. Unifying church and state interests invites a return to an absolute power that is antithetical to America’s founding principles.
The public funding of religious education might well result in a proliferation of church schools for Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Scientologists, Native American religions and so forth. Each funding of a religious education would take money from the generic public education that creates the common ground necessary for public discussion.
The move toward funding religious education also has a negative potential for religious organizations. Public funding could lead to taxation of religious assets. The large, dominant religious organization of the United States could well pay more in property and income taxes than they would receive for their educational functions.
Funding religious education opens the door to the absolute power that commonly accompanies religious/state unification, reduces the funding for generic public education and invites taxation of religious resources. Changing the long-held constitutional separation of church and state is dangerous in a variety of ways.