{"id":382,"date":"2011-04-05T13:00:48","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T17:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/?p=382"},"modified":"2011-04-05T13:43:48","modified_gmt":"2011-04-05T17:43:48","slug":"did-supreme-court-ok-tax-money-for-christian-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/2011\/04\/did-supreme-court-ok-tax-money-for-christian-schools.html","title":{"rendered":"Did the U.S. Supreme Court OK spending tax money on Christian schools?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
How does this decision affect students?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S,\u00a0Supreme Court has ruled in favor of an Arizona school voucher program. Critics say\u00a0it violates the Constitution by\u00a0directing taxpayer funds to religious schools.<\/p>\n

So, what did the court actually approve?<\/p>\n

In a 5-4 ruling,\u00a0justices\u00a0expanded several long-standing precedents that\u00a0citizens don’t have the legal standing to challenge taxes they don’t like simply because they’re taxpayers.<\/p>\n

What does that have to do with Christian schools? Does the decision pour billions in federal money into private academies nationwide?<\/p>\n

No, justices\u00a0refused to\u00a0hear\u00a0this particular\u00a0challenge of the Arizona law. They said the people suing\u00a0don’t have any stake in the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not all the justices agreed — the vote was 5-4. In a strongly worded\u00a0minority opinion, four\u00a0justices maintained\u00a0that since the case involved claims of a violation of religious freedoms, the Arizona plaintiffs didn’t need to demonstrate a specific personal injury.<\/p>\n

However the majority\u00a0decision, written on behalf of\u00a0the five prevailing justices\u00a0by Justice Anthony Kennedy,\u00a0said the challenge could not proceed.\u00a0They upheld existing\u00a0law that requires a plaintiff to have a stake in any challenge. For example, just because you don’t like the color orange, you cannot sue the government for\u00a0painting stripes on the highway orange\u00a0— not without showing that you’ve suffered harm by the government having painted items orange.<\/p>\n

Thus,\u00a0whatever merits or unconstitutionality that might exist were not debated. The Court did not declare that vouchers are legal and should be instituted in every school district in America. Instead, they said the Arizona voucher law would remain unchallenged since its opponents couldn’t show they were harmed.<\/p>\n

Arizona’s law allows parents to take a $500 credit on their state taxes if they send their child to a private school.<\/p>\n

Opponents of\u00a0the program filed suit, claiming\u00a0such a\u00a0tax credit violates the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from establishing any religion in the United States or prohibiting the free practice thereof.<\/p>\n

Attorneys defending the\u00a0program\u00a0said the law only allows taxpayers to avoid paying $500 in state taxes if they spend\u00a0$500 sending their own child to a private school. Thus, the plaintiffs\u00a0had no\u00a0interest in the matter\u00a0— their money\u00a0is not involved.\u202a\u202a<\/p>\n

If there is a precedent set, it would be that opponents don’t get special treatment just\u00a0because a\u00a0First Amendment issue is in dispute.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE<\/a><\/strong> to read about the book publisher\u00a0who has put a parental warning on the U.S. Constitution.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S,\u00a0Supreme Court has ruled in favor of an Arizona school voucher program. Critics say\u00a0it violates the Constitution by\u00a0directing taxpayer funds to religious schools. So, what did the court actually approve? In a 5-4 ruling,\u00a0justices\u00a0expanded several long-standing precedents that\u00a0citizens don’t have the legal standing to challenge taxes they don’t like simply because they’re taxpayers. What…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,88,102],"tags":[106,105,104,15],"class_list":["post-382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children","category-students","category-u-s-constitution","tag-christian-schools","tag-first-amendment","tag-school-vouchers","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nDid the U.S. Supreme Court OK spending tax money on Christian schools? - On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/2011\/04\/did-supreme-court-ok-tax-money-for-christian-schools.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Did the U.S. Supreme Court OK spending tax money on Christian schools? - On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S,\u00a0Supreme Court has ruled in favor of an Arizona school voucher program. Critics say\u00a0it violates the Constitution by\u00a0directing taxpayer funds to religious schools. So, what did the court actually approve? In a 5-4 ruling,\u00a0justices\u00a0expanded several long-standing precedents that\u00a0citizens don’t have the legal standing to challenge taxes they don’t like simply because they’re taxpayers. 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