Colorado Should Not Be Allowed to Redefine Religion

​Can a state decide that religious schools are welcome to participate in a public program, but only if they set aside their core religious beliefs?

That is the question before the U.S. Supreme Court in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy. Protect The 1st provides answers to that question in our amicus brief on the merits of this case. We urge the Court to reject Colorado’s attempt to exclude religious preschools from that state’s universal preschool program because they adhere to traditional religious teachings.

At first glance, this may appear to be another dispute over government funding and religious schools. It is much more than that.

Protect The 1st demonstrates that the First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion means little if government officials are free to decide which religious beliefs are acceptable and which are not. A state may not condition participation in a public benefit on abandoning sincerely held religious convictions. Nor may it redefine “religion” so narrowly that only a faith stripped of its actual doctrines qualifies for constitutional protection.

The danger of such government overreach extends far beyond Colorado.

If government can require a Catholic preschool to disregard Catholic teaching in order to participate in a generally available public program, the same principle could be applied to Orthodox Jewish schools, Muslim schools, Protestant ministries, or any religious institution whose beliefs fall out of political favor. Today’s disagreement may concern sexual ethics. Tomorrow it could involve environmental stewardship, immigration, medical ethics, or any number of contested public issues.

Protect The 1st’s brief reminds the Court that religious liberty protects the freedom to live one’s faith, not merely to profess it. The Constitution does not permit government to reward religious organizations only after they surrender the religious practices that define them. The First Amendment was adopted precisely to prevent government from becoming the nation’s theological referee.

That principle should unite Americans of every faith and those of no faith at all. Once government acquires the authority to decide which religious beliefs are acceptable, every religious community becomes vulnerable to the political fashions of the day.

The Supreme Court now has an opportunity to reaffirm a foundational constitutional principle – government may regulate conduct within constitutional limits, but it cannot manipulate religious belief by attaching ideological conditions to public benefits.

The Free Exercise Clause protects religious diversity precisely because it denies government the power to choose which faiths – or which doctrines within those faiths – deserve equal treatment.
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We look forward to hearing robust oral arguments on these points in the Court’s upcoming October Term.

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