Federal appeals court OKs state funds for religious college
By The Associated Press
06.27.01
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RICHMOND, Va. — A Seventh-day Adventist college in Maryland cannot be excluded from a state program that pays for nonreligious courses and programs at public and private colleges, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the state failed to prove that Columbia Union College in Takoma Park was "pervasively sectarian" and therefore ineligible for state money.
The decision upheld a ruling last August by U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis, who rejected Maryland officials' arguments that funding the Christian school violates the constitutional ban on state-sponsored religion.
"We recognize the sensitivity of this issue and respect the constitutional imperative for government not to impermissibly advance religious interests," Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote.
"Nevertheless, by refusing to fund a religious institution solely because of religion, the government risks discriminating against a class of citizens solely because of faith. The First Amendment requires government neutrality, not hostility, to religious belief."
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1976 in Roemer v. Board of Public Works of Maryland that it is unconstitutional to provide public subsidies to institutions that are pervasively sectarian, or too religiously focused.
Several Catholic institutions have participated in Maryland's Sellinger Program, but state officials argued that Columbia Union's programs were so entangled with religion that the school did not qualify.
Initially, Garbis ruled that Columbia Union was not eligible for the grants. The federal appeals court ordered him to reconsider and provided a legal formula for him to follow in weighing the college's eligibility.
The appeals court agreed with the judge's latest ruling that Columbia Union lacks some of the characteristics of a pervasively sectarian college. A mandatory worship policy applied only to a minority of students, the court said, and there was insufficient evidence that traditional liberal arts classes were used for religious indoctrination.
Although the Seventh-day Adventist Church dominated college affairs and the college gave church members preference in hiring and admissions, "these factors by themselves were not enough to make the college a pervasively sectarian one," Wilkinson wrote.
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Federal judge gives religious college go-ahead to seek state funds
Seventh-day Adventist college has been fighting to be included in Maryland program that provides funding for nonreligious courses.
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