Can you be punished by the government for your religious views? According to the 1st Amendment the answer to that question should be a resounding “No!” However, more and more leftist politicians, bureaucrats and their allies are pushing to do just that.
I will ignore Pelosi’s Equality Act which could be a death blow to freedom of religion in this country. Earlier this year Chick-fil-A was denied the opportunity by local governments to run their business in airports in Rochester and San Antonio. Why? Was it because they discriminate against anyone because of any race, sex, creed or sexual preference? No. Do they deny service to anyone based on any of the above criteria? No. It was because the owners are biblical Christians. Therefore, by definition, they are bigots. This shows the true power of the LGBT movement in this country.
Opponents of religious freedom like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) try to obfuscate the things that people of faith stand for, like justice, free speech, marriage, family and religious liberty. When Christians stand up for life, supposedly they hate women. When they stand up for biblical marriage, they hate gays. Opponents use their media lapdogs to paint a picture of close-minded “bitter clingers of guns and religion.” They broadcast the idea that people of faith are full of hate and intolerance.
Another salvo in the war against Christianity took place in Maryland recently.
Bethel Christian Academy (BCA) is a small private Christian school in Maryland that serves students in pre-K through eighth grade. The school serves children in the Baltimore area. It has some 280 students from more than 40 different countries. The student population is approximately 80% minority. The school serves Christian students, as well as those of different religious affiliations, or none at all.
The school had participated in Maryland’s BOOST school voucher program for two years. But this past school year, the state denied BCA’s students the use of voucher money to attend BCA. The reason? BCA’s biblical beliefs on marriage and sexuality.
And to add insult to injury, BCA was told they had to repay all monies received from the program, more than $100,000. If enforced, this will mean the end of BCA.
The Department of Education (DOE) had requested to see the student handbooks of schools in the BOOST program. Bethel’s handbook includes a statement of Christian beliefs about marriage and sexuality.
In making its decision, the DOE cited a state law forbidding schools from discriminating in the admissions process based on sexual orientation.
The problem? The school does not turn away any students based on their sexual orientation. Rather, it asks its grade school students to refrain from any kind of sexual conduct.
The school’s legal counsel noted,
“While Bethel fully complied with the program’s requirements, Maryland let its hostility toward Bethel’s religious views, not the law, decide the school’s eligibility. Maryland’s families deserve better; that’s why we’re asking the court to address the state’s hostility.”
So once again, another government agency is violating the Constitution. The DOE based its decision on its own hostility towards Christian religious views. The Doe ignored its own requirements in making this decision. This sounds an awful lot like recent cases where the Supreme Court has found hostility by state agencies towards individuals based solely on the individual’s religious beliefs. How many such cases need to make their way to the Supreme Court?
In the meantime low-income students who would benefit from the excellent education that BCA provides in a caring Christian environment have been forced to go elsewhere. This includes returning to the less than ideal public education system of Maryland.
But the State of Maryland doesn’t care. It’s determined to punish Bethel Christian Academy because it does not fall in line with its ideological agenda. And that includes punishing the children this school serves.
Let us hope and pray that the State of Maryland will be found guilty of violating the religious freedom of the people of the state. Let us also hope that BCA will be compensated for all untoward results of such discrimination by a state agency.