Can a school which places the Bible at the heart of all its lessons and refuses homosexual students benefit from public subsidies? The Supreme Court debates Wednesday of this very divisive question in the United States.
The nine wise men, including six conservatives, are examining a system of educational aid in force in the state of Maine, contested by parents, and will render their decision in the spring.
As this northeastern state is sparsely populated, more than half of its school districts do not have a public high school. In return, families receive grants that they can use to send their children to schools of their choice.
They can opt for public or private schools, inside or outside the state, and even for schools affiliated to churches, provided that the teaching there is not “sectarian”.
It is this last point that is disputed: two evangelical Christian families have taken legal action to be able to use these public funds to send their children to denominational schools excluded from the system.
One of these schools “teaches the children that the husband is the head of the household” and that “God is the creator of the world”, the other uses the Bible in all subjects. The two mix religious and academic instruction and refuse homosexual students and employees, the local authorities have justified.
Both sides invoke the First Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom but prohibits any law “having the effect of establishing a religion.”
Parents, supported by ten Republican senators, twenty conservative states and many religious institutions, rely on the first part to defend their right to choose a school in accordance with their values and denounce anti-religious discrimination.
Maine retorts that the second clause prevents the use of public funds to finance a religion. The government of Democratic President Joe Biden as well as democratic states, teachers’ associations and human rights defense have supported him.
The federal courts have so far ruled in favor of the state. By agreeing to take up the case, the Supreme Court, several of whose magistrates have recently shown themselves to be very sensitive to the defense of religious freedoms, suggested that it could contradict them.
The issue is part of a larger debate, currently very lively in the United States, on the place of parents in the school system. It crystallizes on the obligation to wear a mask against the Covid, the anti-racist teachings put in place after the major demonstrations of the summer of 2020 and the place of transgender students.
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