What’s next?

Richard A. Sokerka

As another school year opens in the Diocese of Paterson, let’s not take for granted the religious freedom our students enjoy. They can begin and end their day with prayer, attend Mass and learn about the tenets of their faith in all their lessons. The name of God can be spoken without anyone saying that his name should never be mentioned in school so as to be “politically correct.”

But the battle to preserve these religious freedoms against intrusion from state and federal governments is ongoing. In California, for instance, a bill that threatened to defund California religious colleges that do not accept same-sex marriage and gender ideology has been amended. But it in no way does that mean the battle is over.

A previous version of the bill would have imposed strict anti-discrimination rules on state-backed student grants to schools that disagree with same-sex marriage and gender ideology. Schools would have had to decline to accept students with the grants, change their morality- and religion-based policies, or face the risk of lawsuits.

Critics of the original bill said that it would stigmatize and punish religious colleges and universities and deny their disadvantaged students’ needed funds for their education.

In a statement written in response to the previous version of the bill, a group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders defended the importance of the freedom of religious higher education.

“The future of a free America requires the full participation of religion in public life. Religious higher education cultivates both the mind and the soul,” they said. They characterized the proposed restrictions as “stigmatizing and coercively punishing religious beliefs that disagree on contested matters related to human sexuality.”

Before its amendment, they said the bill would have severely restricted “the ability of religious education institutions to set expectations of belief and conduct that align with the institution’s religious tenets.”

A wary eye should be kept on these developments in California, lest government officials attempt to propose any legislation which limits religious freedoms there or in any state in our nation.