Posted on 07/19/2002 7:18:40 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj
Law on church-state separation violated student's rights, court rules
Friday, July 19, 2002
By SCOTT SUNDE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Joshua Davey was valedictorian of his University High School class in Spokane, scored a perfect 800 on the verbal section of his college-entrance exams and won a National Merit Scholarship.
His academic prowess and his family's income made him a perfect selection for Washington's Promise Scholarship, which goes annually to more than 6,000 of the state's brightest students who come from modest means. Indeed, the state awarded him $1,125 in 1999 for his freshman year at Northwest College, a Kirkland school affiliated with the Assembly of God denomination.
But not long into his first year, Davey's scholarship vanished. He had committed the one unpardonable sin that would disqualify him from state aid: He would major in pastoral ministries and intended to become a minister.
Now he may get his scholarship money and a religious degree after all. A federal appeals court yesterday sided with Davey, 22, saying that the state law violated his constitutional right to practice his religion.
"I'm very pleased and excited about this and hope that this will change things," said Davey, who will begin his senior year at Northwest College this fall.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals may touch many more students than Davey, both the state and Davey's attorney say. State law forbids state aid to college students who pursue theology degrees.
"It does have far-reaching impact in the way the state handles scholarships," said Stuart Roth, Davey's attorney and a lawyer at the American Center for Law and Justice, a public-interest law firm in Virginia.
The state provides aid to as many as 65,000 college students, said Marc Gaspard, executive director of the Higher Education Coordinating Board. If the appeals court ruling stands, the state may have to extend aid to students pursuing theological degrees, he said.
"It appears to me in reading this decision the court has devalued state law and dismissed our state constitution," Gaspard said. "It's a surprise, since we won a summary judgment in a lower court."
The state has not yet decided whether it will appeal the ruling.
Yesterday's 2-1 ruling was at least the third in less than a month in which a 9th Circuit panel had wrestled with religious freedom and separation of church and state.
In June, the court ruled that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because it includes the words "under God," violating the separation of church and state.
Earlier this month, in another 2-1 ruling, the court rejected the claims of a Washington state man who said he was discriminated against because his religion forbade him from saluting the flag and taking an oath at the State Patrol academy.
The case whose decision was announced yesterday is about more than one student from Spokane trying to get a scholarship. It pits two American ideals of religious freedom against each other: building a separation between church and state and allowing citizens to worship as they please.
The Legislature passed its law against aid going to theology majors in 1969. But the law backs up what the state founders wrote in the Washington Constitution in 1889: "No money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise or instruction or the support of any religious establishment."
In other words, the state argued in the Davey case that it was trying to maintain separation of church and state.
"The value of the state law is to put a clear separation between the state and religion," Gaspard of the Higher Education Coordinating Board said.
But Davey and his attorneys argued that the state was denying him the right to freely practice his religion. "The policy on its face targets one class of people for discrimination," Roth said.
Besides, he said, the scholarship money goes to the student, not the college. The student can use it for tuition, books, rent or even pizza and cheeseburgers. Taken to an extreme, the Washington law would mean a state employee couldn't use his salary to tithe to his church, Roth said.
In a split decision, the appeals court agreed with Davey. "A state law may not offer a benefit to all ... but exclude some on the basis of religion. ... Washington's restriction disables students majoring in theology from the benefit of the scholarship," wrote Judge Pamela Ann Rymer in the majority opinion. Judge Ronald Gould sided with her opinion.
Rymer noted that once students qualify for the Promise Scholarships with high enough grades, low enough family income and the intention of going to college in Washington, only a theology major can disqualify them. Davey, she said, could not have his cake and eat it, too. To accept the scholarship, he couldn't major in theology. If he decided to major in theology, he couldn't get a scholarship.
Judge M. Margaret McKeown dissented, saying Washington state "has successfully navigated the tensions between the free exercise of religion and the prohibition of its endorsement."
Davey lost his scholarship before he ever got the money after the state reminded Northwest College about the prohibition against aid going to theology students. Davey was only a freshman and didn't have to declare a major, but he did.
"I felt discriminated against," Davey recalled yesterday. "I felt the state was saying my major and the career I was planning was of no value."
Withdrawal of Promise Scholarships over the theology prohibition is rare, said a spokeswoman for the higher education board. Two other students at Northwest College lost Promise Scholarships at the same time Davey did for the same reason, she said.
But only Davey decided to fight in court. His father heard about the American Center for Law and Justice on the radio, Davey said. Pat Robertson, the religious broadcaster and former Republic presidential candidate, founded the center, and it takes a conservation bent to its cases.
Davey lost early on when U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein of Seattle issued a summary judgment in favor of the state. Although he has won for now, Davey admits that he may not see the scholarship money until he has graduated.
Or he might be able to use it for law school.
Davey, a religion and philosophy major, may work in a church as a lay minister, but his case had made him want to use the law to fight for religious freedom, he said.
The difference is in getting to practice your own religion
and having government get others to practice it, too.
Keep it civil.
Natural law is in the constitution? Whereabouts?
I particularly liked the student's lawyer's reasoning of how the money would be spent. ACLJ does it again. They have taken on and won so many important freedom of religion cases for students against schools. They've taken 3 or more to the supreme court and won. The country would be in a much worse situation had ACLJ not been in there taking these institutions to court. I saw Jay Sekulow, the head of ACLJ, again on some news show the other night. He is an excellent spokesman for our rights.
And none too soon either. The 9th Circus got one right for a change. Very refreshing.
FGS
Looks like I owe these folks another donation ; )
FGS
The Christians are the most discriminated organization in America even though the Constitution gives them the right to freedom and worship. The pagan class steals their wages, yet refuses them the right to use them.
If Christians are not allowed to use public funds, they should all be tax exempt.
It's good to see someone notice that.
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