Colorado Case Tests Limits Of Religious Freedom In Publicly Funded Programs

By Ari Armstrong | Commentary, Complete Colorado

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a Colorado Catholic preschool that wishes to get state funding but not follow all antidiscrimination laws pertaining to gay and transgender students and possibly staff.

I suspect that constitutional law professor Josh Blackman is right to predict the Court’s view, “This will likely be yet another repudiation of Colorado’s hostility to religious liberty.” Yet I wish Blackman and other conservatives would more fully think through the implications of the case for freedom of conscience.

Remember who’s paying the bill

The basic argument for not excluding the Catholic preschool is that excluding it infringes the school’s religious liberty. Religious preschools should be able to participate in a government program on the same grounds as everyone else, without violating the tenets of their faith.

But that legal argument ignores the underlying moral issue: The state is forcing individual Colorado taxpayers to finance these preschools. Shouldn’t the person who earns the money have a say in how it is spent?

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