
Supreme Court ruling forces taxpayers to pay for private religious schools. - silasrude
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/supreme-court-espinoza-montana-religious-schools.html
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dannyw
Supreme Court ruling allows states to fund private schools, including ones
that are religious, as long as states do not discriminate based on religion.

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silasrude
Which boils down to my tax dollars being used to fund private religious
schools. I believe in separation of church and state. My tax dollars should in
no way be funding proselytizing and indoctrination

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dternyak
This is a bit of an _unorthodox_ take, but I think there are actually no
schools or institutions more broadly that are truly "a-religious".

After reflection on my own experience going through the public school system,
I've realized that the absence of the prototypical religion in public schools
did not by any means remove "proselytizing and indoctrination". Instead, a
sort of undefined religion has emerged, that we'll likely only be able to
encapsulate in the rear-view mirror of history.

The most obvious form of proselytization, to me, was the constant preaching
about college. While a rabbit-hole on its own, college attendance has not been
leading to good outcomes for many of its attendees in recent times, and seems
to have been an unquestionable tenet.

Simply put, secular public schools are not devoid of proselytizing and
indoctrination. Why withhold taxpayers the option to choose their preferred
form of indoctrination for their kids?

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SamReidHughes
I'll add, I basically harassed my parents non-stop about smoking because of
public school indoctrination.

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soganess
While I'm 100% against the supreme courts ruling and hope there is eventually
some movement on it, I cannot get behind the writing of this article. It is
two superlatives short of pointing people to a pitchfork store.

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OldHand2018
I live in a state that Fox News calls a liberal hellhole and for as long as I
can remember people have been able to take an income tax deduction on tuition
payments to private schools, including religious schools. Money is fungible,
so the only real difference is that now you can take a tax credit for paying
for someone else's kid. But even then, the 2018 federal tax law allowed fully
deductible contributions to 529 plans for other people's kids.

I honestly don't see why there is an attempt to create outrage here. If the
people of Montana, via their democratically-elected representatives, see fit
to offer this scholarship program then why is this so wrong?

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thomastjeffery
Because living in most states as a non-Christan or atheist is living as a
minority. This minority group does not have enough influence to convince their
representatives to oppose such legislation.

The first amendment is only necessary protection for minority rights. What is
freedom of religion if you can't have freedom from religion?

I live in Utah, where The Corporation for the President of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Later-day Saints (the mainstream Mormon Church) has an overtly
significant voice in politics and media. Its private university Brigham Young
University likely benefits significantly from this situation, which is totally
unnecessary, since the church itself has plenty of funding available,
including a 501c3 tax-exempt $124 billion+ liquid investment account built
from tithing donations in excess if $7 billion per year.

I don't want to see a penny of my country or state's tax dollars going to a
university named after a man who, as a self-proclaimed prophet of God, taught
that interracial marriage is to be punished by death on the spot, and does not
allow students to be in same-sex relationships, or leave their religion before
graduation.

I don't see this as an attempt to create outrage, but to express that which
already exists.

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elindbe2
I'm not understanding the legal argument for funding private secular schools
but not private religious schools. That seems like clear discrimination on the
basis of religion, which is a protected class. It seems like in response
though, the state could cease funding for all private schools which would not
discriminate on the basis of religion.

