Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, sided with Trinity Lutheran Church over the State of Missouri concerning how faith-based non-profits are treated during the grant process. Missouri was offering grants for improvements to public spaces like playgrounds. Trinity Lutheran’s application was among the strongest, but the state didn’t award a grant to the church because it was a religious organization. The church wanted to replace wood chips with safer recycled tire pellets at the church’s preschool and daycare center.
Senator James Lankford leads many efforts to treat religious non-profits the same as non-religious charitable organizations. He approved of the Supreme Court’s decision.
“I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision today in the Trinity Lutheran case to ensure that all organizations, whether religiously based or not, are constitutionally guaranteed the same right and opportunity to participate in government programs,” said Lankford. “Today’s decision affirms the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion—to have more than just a belief but to live out your faith without discrimination from the government. As Chief Justice Roberts noted in his opinion, ‘The exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution…and cannot stand,’” said Lankford in a statement.
Closer to home, the decision was welcomed by the Family Policy Institute of Oklahoma (FPIO).
“Oklahomans of faith should be encouraged by this ruling because it recognizes that the Constitution’s First Amendment allows faith-based institutions to fully participate in civic life and the public square. This means that communities across the state will continue to see the positive benefit of faith-based organizations loving their neighbor in a variety of ways. It also means that Oklahoma’s Blaine Amendment is in jeopardy and should be revisited,” said FPIO President Timothy Tardibono.
In November 2016, Oklahoma voters had a chance to strip the religious restriction from Oklahoma’s constitution. However, they rejected State Question 790 and left the restriction in place.
