7-2 is a strong ruling considering this court's history concerning SC&S issues and idealogical split. Scalia's stance was so predictable, his usual grasping at straws and crying persecution. I'm so glad he is recused from the pledge "Under God" case.
Taxpayers shouldn't be forced to pay for preacher training.
Quote:
"Training someone to lead a congregation is an essentially religious endeavor," Chief Justice William Rehnquist said in the opinion. "Indeed, majoring in devotional theology is akin to a religious calling as well as an academic pursuit."
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Rehnquist wrote in the 12-page opinion that the state has merely chosen not to fund a distinct category of religious instruction.
He said most states around the time of the founding of the country placed formal prohibitions against using tax funds to support the ministry.
Nothing in the history of the law or the operation of the program suggested animosity toward religion, Rehnquist said.
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