Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
Government officials in Colorado don’t seem to like Christians very much.
The state has a new free universal preschool program available to any family who wants to participate. The same doesn’t go for schools, however.
The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) requires religious schools that seek state funding in the program to hire employees who don’t share the schools’ religious beliefs.
That’s not the worst.
Religious schools that want to participate and receive money must change rules and policies about sexuality and gender. The Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin and an abomination to God, for example. But participating religious schools must not teach these beliefs or practice their faith according to the Bible’s teachings.
Darren Patterson Christian Academy filed a lawsuit against the executive director of the CDEC and the director of the state’s Universal Preschool Program.
“This civil-rights action seeks to prevent the government from forcing a Christian preschool to surrender its religious character, beliefs, and exercise to participate in Colorado’s universal preschool program just like everyone else,” the complaint (PDF) states.
From Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the school’s legal counsel:
After applying and being approved for the program, the school raised the issue with the CDEC, as did other faith-based groups, and requested it be allowed to operate according to its religious beliefs and still participate in the program. The agency denied the request, however.
Denying the school’s request sounds like a losing proposition for the government.
“The Constitution is clear: The government may not deny participation in a public program simply due to a school’s internal religious exercise,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus. “The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed this principle in 2017, 2020, and 2022. Darren Patterson Christian Academy has been serving Chaffee County families for over 40 years. Colorado officials are violating the school’s First Amendment rights by forcing it to abandon its religious beliefs—the reason why parents choose to send their kids to the school—to receive critical state funding.”
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The decision by the CDEC is blatantly unconstitutional and should be reversed. Of course, it is in the socialist state of CO. Almost as bad as CA. Cuz of the transplants from CA. Denying the 1st Amendment rights to the school because of its religious nature is so wrong. Hopefully, the director of the CDEC should be personally sued and ridden out of the state on a rail.
So tired of watching the Constitution being shredded by the left. Just sayin’.