[babyface00]

A Divinity degree is only intended for one thing: active practice as a clergyman for a specific denomination

What degree do instructors at divinity school have? Are they all ordained ministers? I'm not trying to be adversarial, I just find it odd that any university degree has one, and only one, possible use/outcome. There are plenty of people with engineering degrees who aren't engineers. I don't work in the field in which my degree is. Is a divinity degree really that specific?

[jwalsh07]

I write separately to
note that, in my view, the study of theology does not nec-
essarily implicate religious devotion or faith. The con-
tested statute denies Promise Scholarships to students
who pursue a degree in theology. See Wash. Admin.
Code § 250 80 020( 12) ( g) ( 2003) ( defining an eligible
student, in part, as one who [ i ] s not pursuing a degree
in theology ) ; Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 28B. 10.814 ( West
1997) ( No aid shall be awarded to any student who is
pursuing a degree in theology ) . But the statute itself
does not define theology. And the usual definition of the
term theology is not limited to devotional studies. . The-
ology is defined as [ t ] he study of the nature of God and
religious truth and the rational inquiry into religious
questions. American Heritage Dictionary 1794 ( 4th ed.
2000) . See also Webster s Ninth New Collegiate Diction-
ary 1223 ( 1991) ( the study of religious faith, practice, and
experience and the study of God and his relation to the
world )

From Justice Thomas' dissent.

[Modernman]

I'm not trying to be adversarial, I just find it odd that any university degree has one, and only one, possible use/outcome.There are plenty of people with engineering degrees who aren't engineers.

True, but the classes they took in engineering school were geared towards turning them into engineers. They may have ended up doing something else, but the classes they took were aimed at making them engineers.

Similarly, people with divinity degrees may or may not end up working in the area of their degrees. However, the goal of a degree in divinity for, say, a Lutheran is to become a Lutheran priest. So, the goal of said degree is to provide an education that will be used to benefit only a particular religious denomination. Now, if a Lutheran student was only studying religion or religious history in general, the goal of that degree would not be to provide a benefit to a specific religious denomination, though that might end up being the case.