House Speaker Paul Ryan called a Supreme Court ruling that favored federal funding of a religious school playground “important … for religious liberty with profound significance for America’s civil society.”
The high court ruled 7-2 on Monday that Missouri wrongfully denied financial aid to a Lutheran church seeking to improve a day care and preschool playground.
“This is an important ruling for religious liberty with profound significance for America’s civil society,” Ryan, R-Wis., said in a statement. “Religious liberty is a fundamental right; it means much more than the ability to worship freely.
“Our religious institutions must be able to contribute to education and the public good — that is part of their core mission. When the government places special burdens on churches specifically because they are religious institutions, that is discrimination, plain and simple. I commend the Supreme Court for standing up for religious institutions and the Constitution.”
The case dealt with a Missouri government program that gives funding to nonprofit organizations to resurface playgrounds that conflicted with a provision of the Missouri Constitution that blocks public funds from directly or indirectly assisting any church, sect or religion.
The court ruled, 7-2, that the state was excluding the church from a public benefit that it should have been able to receive solely because it is a church.
