Preserving American Values

When Justice Alito was in Rome the other week to partake in the Church’s Jubilee, he noted several cases that have come before the Supreme Court.  One allowed parents with religious objections to withdraw their children from classes when storybooks with LGBTQ themes were discussed.

There is no question that today the Catholic Church does not consider the status of LGBTQ to be unnatural or a sin.  The catechism states very clearly that they “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” (#2358). And if not engaging in sexual acts, they are allowed to participate fully in the Church, including receiving communion.

However, homosexual activity is considered “intrinsically disordered.” https://waterloocatholics.org/information-for-gay-lesbian-catholics  They, like unmarried heterosexuals, are called to a life of chastity.

Nevertheless, the Catholic Church has opened up significantly to even practicing LGBTQ parishioners, allowing them to attend mass and otherwise participate in the life of the Church as a believer. This is not the Church of even 10 years ago, let alone 50 or 100.  The Church evolves, as opposed to Alito’s view of the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

Given that information, could a Catholic parent claim a religious objection to storybooks with LGBTQ themes? I would say the answer is pretty clearly, no.  Such books are typically all about acceptance and respect. If this were 1950, the answer would have been, yes.  But not today.  I cannot speak for the various Protestant denominations that are not LGBTQ-friendly.

The other case involved a Court ruling that the State of Maine was prohibited from excluding religious schools from a state tuition program. If a state has a tuition program for private charter schools, excluding religious schools from the program would be discriminatory towards those schools.  

However, does providing religious schools with state funding violate the separation of church and state principle?  It does not encourage or support a particular religion, but does it encourage religious belief as opposed to secular?  

I would have to say that it does not.  This isn’t just a program to benefit religious schools, it benefits all.  One could argue with the decision of the state to provide any funding to private schools, but once that decision is made, the state should not discriminate between the type of private school.