5 highlights from Trump's Religious Liberty Commission hearing
4. Notre Dame Law professor details hostility toward religious liberty and schools
Nicole Stelle Garrett, a professor at the University of Notre Dame’s School of Law, shared statistics about state and federal laws that she believes violate the First Amendment by discriminating against religion. She has compiled a website titled www.religiousequality.net that provides a detailed breakdown.
“At the state level, we identified 364 statutes and 104 regulations that discriminate against religion,” she explained. “All states impose religious restrictions on charter schools, which are privately operated. Many do the same for pre-K, privately operated pre-K programs and special education providers.”
According to Garrett, “Many states allow high school students to enroll in classes in college, including private college, at public expense but limit their freedom to take classes at religious colleges for dual credit.”
Additional state laws singled out by Garrett include “college scholarship programs that exclude religious students attending religious colleges or students studying theology,” as well as requirements that students in work-study programs “refrain from engaging in religious conduct.”
Garrett also outlined how “at the federal level, we identified 135 unconstitutional statutes and regulations, 41 of which restrict the religious liberty of private educational institutions.”
Garrett identified the general character of such laws as requiring faith-based schools to “refrain from engaging in religious conduct as a condition of receiving federal funds.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
