The religious right wants states' tax dollars, and the Supreme Court is likely to agree

[babylonsister]

The religious right wants states’ tax dollars, and the Supreme Court is likely to agree
An emboldened religious right wants the public to pay for its schools.
By Ian Millhiser Dec 2, 2021, 8:30am EST


The plaintiffs in Carson v. Makin, a case being heard next Wednesday, December 8, begin their brief to the Supreme Court with an absolutely ridiculous historical comparison.

“In the 19th century, Maine’s public schools expelled students for adhering to their faith,” they claim, citing one example of a Catholic student expelled for not completing lessons off a Protestant bible. Now, according to the brief, Maine is committing a similarly repugnant sin against religious people by refusing to pay state residents’ tuition at private religious schools.

Under this reasoning, there is no relevant difference between denying a public education to a Catholic student and refusing to pay for private religious education. “The times are different,” the plaintiffs’ brief claims, “but the result is the same: denial of educational opportunity through religious discrimination.”

Carson, in other words, represents a significant escalation in the war over whether the government can enact policies of which religious people — and religious conservatives on the Supreme Court — disapprove. It moves the battleground from whether religious conservatives can seek exemptions from individual laws to whether they can also demand that the public actively fund their faith.

more...

https://www.vox.com/22807738/supreme-court-carson-makin-maine-school-vouchers-religious-liberty-free-exercise-right-tax

[iemanja]

1. Step 2 in the theocracy.

[Progressive Jones]

2. No. No. No. No. No. Let "god" provide. That's what "god" does, right? nt

[Klaralven]

3. Taxpayer dollars subsidizing religious school education is a bus that's already left the station

Lakewood’s school busing mess spilled over to its neighbor. Here’s the price tag

Lakewood Township’s exploding demand for busing private school students has crossed into neighboring Toms Rivers, where the school district is expected to pay more than $1 million next year in transportation expenses for private school students.

The district’s 2020 budget includes $1.1 million in stipends it expects pay to families of students the district is supposed to transport to private schools, business administrator William Doering said. The stipends, which the district is allowed to pay in lieu of actually busing the students, are only partially reimbursed by the state, leaving Toms River “to absorb the cost" of several hundred dollars per student, Doering said.

The rising transportation budget in Toms River is the latest sign of Lakewood’s booming Orthodox Jewish community stretching into neighboring areas.

The majority of Toms Rivers’ private school students are Orthodox children who attend yeshivas in neighboring Lakewood, according to the district. And while Toms River paid transportation stipends for just 150 students five years ago, it budgeted for 1,100 stipends next year, Doering said.

https://www.nj.com/education/2019/05/lakewoods-school-busing-mess-spilled-over-to-its-neighbor-heres-the-price-tag.html

[jimfields33]

12. Busing is different. Everyone pays for roads in property taxes

The bus’ have been taking Catholic school kids to school for decades since 70’s at least.

[sakabatou]

4. You want our tax dollars? Well then, PAY YOUR TAXES.

[keithbvadu2]

5. All religions or just the 'approved' ones?

Madison also made a point that any believer of any religion should understand: that the government sanction of a religion was, in essence, a threat to religion. "Who does not see," he wrote, "that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?" Madison was writing from his memory of Baptist ministers being arrested in his native Virginia.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-true-history-of-religious-tolerance-61312684/?no-ist=

[babylonsister]

8. Thanks for sharing Madison's words of wisdom.

He was right.

[KentuckyWoman]

6. Tax churches.

Put them under the exact same rules as public schools with the same oversight.

You can't teach Jesus in public school then you can't in religious school either.

[jimfields33]

13. I agree tax all non profits period!!!!!!

Nobody should get a free ride.

[Thomas Hurt]

7. So, if they want taxes they can start paying them.

[SergeStorms]

9. That's fine with me.

As long as they start paying taxes on their billions in investments, sure, we can throw them a few bucks for their propaganda camps.

[monkeyman1]

10. church's - pay no tax - get no money ! pretty damn simple to me !

[moondust]

11. Atheist and agnostic taxpayers

subsidizing Moonie indoctrination camps?