Stillwater NewsPress, Okla.
Thu, June 23, 2022, 11:59 PM

Jun. 23—One of the earliest history lessons we are taught about the founding of what would become the United States of America is that the Pilgrims were fleeing religious persecution.

They were Christians, just not the right kind of Christians, according to the crown.

Still, those Puritans would go on to enforce Puritan law on townsfolk, everything from mandatory church attendance to how people were supposed to dress.

Times change.

While public shaming is still very much en vogue, we don't have Puritans fining people for missing church anymore.

What we do have are people who seem very certain that their personal version of faith must not only be accepted but enforced.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled on a case in Maine that overturned state law that kept public dollars from going to religious institutions. A program had been established to provide scholarships for rural children to attend schools and while it allowed for money to go to secular private schools it established that public funds should not go toward schools that have religious requirements. SCOTUS overturned it 6-3 with Chief Justice John Roberts determining that it was a First Amendment violation.

"Maine's 'nonsectarian' requirement for its otherwise generally available tuition assistance payments violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment," Roberts wrote. "Regardless of how the benefit and restriction are described, the program operates to identify and exclude otherwise eligible schools on the basis of their religious exercise."

Interesting because those schools nor the students that would attend them were not being prohibited from expression, they just weren't being given public funds to do so.

How theocratic are we willing to have our nation be?

In her dissenting opinion, notably liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the ruling a dismantling of "the wall of separation between church and state the Framers fought to build."

It's true, she borrowed that directly from Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson, it should be noted, actually attended worship services in the House of Representatives.

The kicker, he thought it was fine to do because it was voluntary and non-denominational.

Many at the time thought Jefferson was revolutionary even to the Christian faith.

Christ himself upended religious dogma of the day.

We don't entirely know what this could mean in the future for Oklahoma. A distinction seems to be that once an Education Savings Account is enacted, then the state couldn't discriminate against who gets one. What it doesn't mean is that Oklahoma would be forced go through with Education Savings Accounts in the first place.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/editorial-brick-precious-brick-035900966.html