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CV NEWS FEED // The chief legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) argued that Evangelical Christians should support the establishment of St. Isidore, a virtual Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. The Supreme Court will hear the school’s case April 30.
“A ruling against St. Isidore will hurt religious freedom, shield traditional public schools from competition pressuring them to improve, and leave low-income families without the educational choices they need and deserve,” legal counsel Jim Campbell wrote in a recent op-ed in The Christian Post. “People of faith should be cheering for St. Isidore’s victory.”
Campbell wrote in response to Christian Post Executive Editor Richard Land’s opinion piece in the same news outlet, in which Land stated that he was going to pray that the court rules against St. Isidore.
Campbell explained that three recent Supreme Court cases have ruled that if a state creates a public program and invites private groups to participate, it must allow religious groups to participate as well. The courts ruled that to ban religious groups from participating violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
“That principle should dictate the result of the case. Oklahoma broadly invites private organizations to apply to operate charter schools,” Campbell wrote. “For it to exclude religious groups would violate the First Amendment.”
Campbell also explained that, although Land calls charter schools “public,” a religious charter school like St. Isidore’s is not a public actor, since it is a private, religious, nonprofit organization founded by two Catholic dioceses. Though it receives taxpayer funding for students, “the government neither creates nor controls St. Isidore’s day-to-day operations,” Campbell states.
He then wrote that if the Supreme Court rules against St. Isidore, it would effectively turn private religious organizations who contract with the government for their charitable works into government actors.
“And that risks excluding them from work they have been doing since long before the government got involved,” Campbell wrote.
Other prominent Christian organizations, such as the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and the General Council of the Assemblies of God are supporting St. Isidore, according to Campbell.
The NAE wrote to the court, “religious organizations that provide critical social services do not become state actors simply by receiving government funds,” and a ruling against St. Isidore “would undermine the continued provision of vital services” by religious organizations.
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Campbell also explained that if a religious school receives government funding, it is not a violation of the Establishment Clause, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
The Supreme Court ruled in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue that “the Establishment Clause is not offended when religious observers and organizations benefit from neutral government programs,” Campbell noted.
“Also, the Establishment Clause is interpreted in light of our historical traditions and understandings,” Campbell wrote. “From the nation’s founding until the late 1800s, every level of American government funded religious schools and education. That tradition firmly supports allowing St. Isidore in the charter-school program.”
