Supreme Court Hears Colorado Catholic Preschool Case Over Marriage Teaching. Do Not Force the Church to Deny Scripture.

The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday, Nov. 3, in a Colorado case that asks whether the state can shut Catholic preschoolers out of a universal preschool program because those schools will not abandon church teaching on marriage and sexual identity.

These accounts come from reports and argument coverage read Friday morning, Nov. 6, Central time. The justices have not issued a ruling.

No opinion has been announced. Oral-argument coverage is not a final judgment, and the Court could still remand the case for more fact-finding under a stricter test, SCOTUSblog noted as a possibility.

The dispute

In St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, CBS News reported, Colorado's universal preschool program requires participating schools to give children an "equal opportunity" to enroll regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, among other characteristics. The Archdiocese of Denver, which oversees 34 Catholic preschools, sought an exemption because the schools enroll families that align with Catholic teaching on marriage, family and sexual identity. The state denied the request and said the schools could not "discriminate against children or families in violation of state statute," CBS reported.

CBS said families in the program are reimbursed for about 15 hours of preschool per week, more than $6,000 a year, and that public, private, faith-based and secular schools may participate if they sign the contract. The Archdiocese's 34 Catholic preschools do not participate.

SCOTUSblog reported that after just over two hours of argument, a majority of the Court seemed to agree that Colorado's refusal to exempt the Catholic schools should face a tougher constitutional test than the lower court applied. Representing the challengers, Nicholas Reaves said the Archdiocese schools "exist to pass on the faith to the next generation," and that letting Catholic schools into the program "will create more seats for everyone," SCOTUSblog reported.

Colorado Deputy Solicitor General Helen Norton told the justices that "Colorado welcomes religious preschools to" the program and allows them to teach their beliefs while requiring the same rules as everyone else, according to SCOTUSblog.

What the justices said

CBS News reported that Justice Elena Kagan said a prior case stood for the principle that a state cannot treat religious institutions differently, and added, "That's not the principle that's at issue here." Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the Archdiocese was asking for a "special rule" that would allow schools to turn away students based on their or their parents' sexual orientation or gender identity, CBS reported.

SCOTUSblog noted the fight also turns on whether Colorado's program is the kind of generally applicable rule described in Employment Division v. Smith, or whether it is so full of exceptions that stricter review is required.

For a recent Dock Line look at faith language in politics after the midterms, see Pastors and a Seminarian Win Midterms; Test the Fruit.

Opinion:

A state that invites churches into a preschool program cannot then demand they stop being churches. Catholic teaching on marriage is not a hobby. It is doctrine. Parents who want a Catholic school for their four-year-olds should not lose public preschool aid because the school will not rewrite Genesis.

Colorado is free to run a preschool program. It is not free to treat orthodox Christianity as the one belief system that must be scrubbed at the door. Equal opportunity for children does not require a church to deny the created order of male and female, or the meaning of marriage.

Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's: They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. Preschool dollars are Caesar's tool. The faith of the church is God's. The Court should keep those lines clear.