TLC vs. Comer
With everything that has been happening over the past 100 or so days of the shit show that has been the trump organization you could be forgiven for not being up to date with everything that has been going on in the rest of the country. I am positive that there are hundreds if not more very important news stories and court cases and things of that nature that I am not aware of. However, this is not one of them. If you have not heard of the Trinity Lutheran Church of Colombia Vs. Carol S. Comer, the director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, then you are like the majority of the country and can be forgiven for not being aware of a seemingly minor court case taking place in the less than impressive state of Missouri. If you are aware of this court case then you are also probably aware of the far reaching implications of this case and are hoping against hope that the Trinity Lutheran Church of Colombia does not win. (If you are hoping the Trinity Lutheran Church does win, you are probably not reading this blog.)
Briefly, this case addresses an instance where the state of Missouri denied funding for the TLC (Trinity Lutheran Church from now on) to cover its preschool playground with recycled rubber. There is a provision of the Missouri State Constitution, among other states, that says, “No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church sect or demonization of religion or in aid of any priest preacher minister or teacher.” It was on this grounds that the TLC was denied its funding.
Now, upon first reading the premise of this case it sounds as if the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MINR from now on) is being a bit asinine in denying funding for a playground. This case however, is not about giving children a safer place to play during recess, it is about the constantly shrinking gap of the separation of church and state. This is an extremely important case, as if the Supreme Court rules in favor of TLC, a situation that is entirely too possible given the younger version of Antonin Scalia that now occupies the ninth seat on the Supreme Court, there will, in the future, be a precedent for funding churches and religious organizations. Given the calamitous Secretary of Education this would be a huge win for her and a massive loss for people that are interested in their children learning about things like evolution and science rather than god. “A ruling in favor of Trinity Lutheran could safeguard religious schools’ place in school voucher programs.”
Now I believe I have stated before and I also believe that it should be fairly obvious that I am not a lawyer. As with any case that makes it to the Supreme Court there are hundreds of finer points and minute details that minds far better than mine have to consider when looking at this case. However, it is obvious to me that given that evangelicals are the reason that Trump is in office, given the rising incidents of racism, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Semitism, and given the appointment of Betsy Ross as the Secretary of Education, that the separation of church and state is rapidly shrinking. While other countries are slowly walking away from religion America seems dead set on sprinting full on ahead to embrace the “lessons” of the bible. Our education system is already not in a great position. We are struggling to keep up with more progressive countries and will continue to fall behind until we embrace some of these changes that other countries have made. However, if TLC wins in this case there will be changes made in the complete opposite direction. In an America that seems in constant peril of serious regression this bill that you have probably never heard about needs to be on your radar. It needs to be legislated correctly and the Supreme Court cannot rule in favor of a case that will ultimately end with school vouchers going to religious schools.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/trinity-lutheran/523542/
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