Abstract
Controversy over the meaning of neutrality emerges clearly in disputes over the scope of religious exercise by organizations receiving public funds. For some, neutrality requires the denial of financial aid equally to all religious organizations. For others, neutrality requires that religious organizations have equal access to public benefits without having to shed their religious character. Otherwise, they suffer from a disaggregated neutrality that burdens religion through a denial of substantive exemptions, but that denies religious benefits that formal neutrality would allow as the incidental result of general laws. This formulation, however, results in disaggregated neutrality in reverse. That is, religious organizations would receive benefits on the same basis as secular groups, but they would also receive exemptions not available to secular groups under generally applicable laws. Public funding for religiously based organizations has no place in a liberal polity unless these organizations are separately incorporated and thus governed by laws against proselytization and discrimination in hiring. Allowing the government to decide which religious groups are worthy of support is divisive and results in favoring some groups over others. These groups should not receive public funds when their policies impact those who may not share their values.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Babst, Gordon A., and John W. Compton. 2016. “Equal Citizenship and Religious Liberty: An Irresolvable Tension?” In Citizenship and Immigration-Borders, Migration and Political Membership in a Global Age, edited by A. E. Cudd and W. E. Lee, 91–104. Cham: Springer.
Ball, Carlos A. 2017. The First Amendment and LGBT Equality: A Contentious History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Boston, Rob. 2013. “Sunrise Settlement: Kentucky Officials Agree to Bar Proselytization at Publicly Funded Baptist Child-Care Agency.” Americans United for Separation of Church and State, May 2.
Bowen v. Kendrick, 487 U.S. 589 (1988).
Bradfield v. Roberts, 175 U.S. 291 (1899).
Brady, Kathleen A. 2004. “Religious Organizations and Free Exercise: The Surprising Lessons of Smith.” Brigham Young University Law Review 2004 (5): 1633–1714.
Carter, Stephen L. 1993. How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion. New York: Basic Books.
Cole, David. 2001. “Faith Succeeds Where Prison Fails.” New York Times, January 31: A25.
Davis, Derek H. 1998. “Equal Treatment: A Christian Separationist Perspective.” In Equal Treatment of Religion in a Pluralistic Society, edited by Stephen V. Monsma and Christopher J. Soper, 136–157. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.
Destro, Robert A. 1998 “Equal Treatment: Implications for Nonprofit Organizations. In Equal Treatment of Religion in a Pluralistic Society, edited by Stephen V. Monsma and Christopher J. Soper, 101–135. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.
Deutsch, Elizabeth. 2016. “No Contraception? No Equality.” New York Times, March 23: A23.
Esbeck, Carl H. 1998. “Equal Treatment: Its Constitutional Status.” In Equal Treatment of Religion in a Pluralistic Society, edited by Stephen V. Monsma and Christopher J. Soper, 9–29. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.
Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947).
Feldman, Noah. 2006. Divided by God: America’s Church-State Problem and What We Should Do About It. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83 (1968).
Formicola, Jo Renee, Mary C. Segers, and Paul Weber, eds. 2003. Faith-Based Initiatives and the Bush Administration: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Gill, Emily R. 2013. “Economic Justice and Freedom of Conscience.” In Economic Justice: Philosophical and Legal Perspectives, edited by Helen Stacy and Win-Chiat Lee, 49–62. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Goodstein, Laurie. 1997. “Church Groups Urge Use of Widened Welfare Law.” New York Times, December 14: A16.
Goodstein, Laurie. 2001a. “Nudging Church-State Line, Bush Invites Religious Groups to Seek Federal Aid.” New York Times, January 30: A18.
Goodstein, Laurie. 2001b. “For Religious Right, Bush’s Charity Plus Is Raising Concerns.” New York Times, March 3: A10.
Goodstein, Laurie. 2001c. “Bush Aide Tells of Plan to Aid Work by Churches.” New York Times, March 8.
Green, Erica L. 2018. “De Vos Pushes Federal Aid for Religious Universities.” New York Times, May 10: A16.
Guerrero, Lucio. 2002. “Local Religious Group Gets Federal Grant.” Chicago Sun-Times, October 4.
Gutmann, Amy. 2000. “Religion and State in the United States: A Defense of Two-Way Protection.” In Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith: Religious Accommodation in Pluralist Democracies, edited by Nancy L. Rosenblum, 127–164. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hacker, Jacob S. 1999. “Faith Healers: Should Churches Take Over Social Policy?” New Republic 220 (28): 16–18.
Hafner, Katie. 2018. “When the Religious Objection Comes from Your Local Hospital.” New York Times, August 11: A1, A16.
Healy, Jack. 2015. “To Keep Free of Reins, Wyoming Catholic College Refuses Aid.” New York Times, April 12: A14.
Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, 551 U.S. 587 (2007).
Hien, Josef. 2017. “From Private to Religious Patriarchy: Gendered Consequences of Faith-Based Welfare Provision in Germany.” Politics and Religion 10 (3): 515–542.
Howard, Clare. 2017. “ACLU Questions Heartland Clinic About Religious Restrictions.” Community Word (Peoria, IL), January: 1, 11.
Joppke, Christian. 2015. The Secular State Under Siege: Religion and Politics in Europe and America. Cambridge, UK, and Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Koppelman, Andrew. 2013. Defending American Religious Neutrality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Laycock, Douglas. 1990. “Formal, Substantive, and Disaggregated Neutrality Toward Religion.” De Paul Law Review 59: 993–1038.
Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971).
Lever, Annabelle. 2017. “Equality and Conscience: Ethics and the Provision of Public Services.” In Religion in Liberal Political Philosophy, edited by Cécile Laborde and Aurélia Bardon, 233–246. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lieb, David A. 2017. “FEMA Rethinking Ban on Disaster Aid for Churches.” New York Times, November 12: A5.
Liptak, Adam. 2016. “Justices Urge a Compromise to Avoid a Tie.” New York Times, May 17: A1, A11.
Locke v. Davey, 540 U.S. 712 (2004).
Lupu, Ira C., and Robert W. Tuttle. 2014. Secular Government, Religious People. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.
Lupu, Ira C., and Robert W. Tuttle. 2016. “Religious Exercise and the Limited Relevance of Corporate Identity.” In The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty, edited by Micah Schwartzman, Chad Flanders, and Zoë Robinson, 373–397. New York: Oxford University Press.
Marcosson, Samuel A. 2009. “The Special Status of Religion Under the First Amendment and What It Means for Gay Rights and Antidiscrimination Law.” In Moral Argument, Religion, and Same-Sex Marriage: Advancing the Public Good, edited by Gordon A. Babst, Emily R. Gill, and Jason Pierceson, 135–160. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books of Rowman & Littlefield.
McConnell, Michael W. 1992. “Religious Freedom at a Crossroads.” University of Chicago Law Review 59: 115–194.
McConnell, Michael W. 2000a. “Believers as Equal Citizens.” In Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith: Religious Accommodation in Pluralist Democracies, edited by Nancy L. Rosenblum, 90–110. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
McConnell, Michael W. 2000b. “The Problem of Singling Out Religion.” DePaul Law Review 50 (1): 1–47.
Monsma, Stephen V. 1996. When Sacred and Secular Mix: Religious Nonprofit Organizations and Public Money. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Monsma, Stephen V. 2002. “Concluding Observations.” In Church-State Relations in Crisis: Debating Neutrality, edited by Stephen V. Monsma, 261–271. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
New York Times. 2001. “Bush on the Creation of a White House Office Tied to Religion.” Editorial, January 30: A18.
New York Times. 2015. “The Fallacy of the Latest Contraception Case.” Editorial, November 7: A20.
Pear, Robert. 2013. “Contraceptives to Be Covered in Health Law.” New York Times, June 29: A1, A13.
Pear, Robert. 2014. “Justices Are Asked to Reject Nuns’ Challenge to Health Law.” New York Times, January 4: A3, A11.
Pear, Robert, and Rebecca R. Ruiz. 2017. “Trump Relaxes Employers’ Duty on Birth Control.” New York Times, October 7: A1, A14.
Pedreira et al. v. Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, Inc., 579 F. Supp. 3d 722 [6th Cir. 2009]).
Peoria Journal-Star (Illinois). 2001. “Hospital Merger Would Burden Some Patients.” Editorial, January 16.
Richardson, Lisa. 2002. “Religious Groups Get Federal Funds.” Los Angeles Times, October 5, reported by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, October 7 press release.
Rosen, Jeffrey. 2001. “Religious Rights: Why the Catholic Church Shouldn’t Have to Hire Gays.” New Republic 224: 16–17.
Rosenberger v. Rector of the University of Virginia, 515 U.S. 819 (1995).
Rosenblum, Nancy L. 1998. Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith: Religious Accommodation in Pluralist Democracies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Rosenblum, Nancy L. 2000. “Introduction: Pluralism, Integralism, and Political Theories of Religious Accommodation.” In Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith, edited by Nancy L. Rosenblum, 3–31. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Russell-Kraft, Stephanie. 2016. “Rise of Zombie Hospitals.” New Republic 247 (12): 12–13.
Savage, Charlie. 2008. “Bush Aides Say Religious Hiring Doesn’t Bar Aid.” New York Times, October 18: A1, A11.
Scott, Jeffrey, and Nancy Badertscher. 2003. “Bias Out if Groups Receive State Aid.” Atlanta- Journal Constitution, October 10.
Sepper, Elizabeth. 2016. “Healthcare Exemptions and the Future of Corporate Religious Liberty.” In The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty, edited by Micah Schwartzman, Chad Flanders, and Zoë Robinson, 305–322. New York: Oxford University Press.
Smith, Rogers M. 1998. “‘Equal’ Treatment? A Liberal Separationist View.” In Equal Treatment of Religion in a Pluralist Society, edited by Stephen V. Monsma and Christopher J. Soper, 179–199. Grand Rapids, MI: William Eerdmans.
Soifer, Aviam. 2000. “The Fullness of Time.” In Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith: Religious Accommodation in Pluralist Democracies, edited by 245–279. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Stevenson, Richard W. 2002. “Bush Will Allow Religious Groups to Receive U.S. Aid.” New York Times, December 13.
Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, 137 S. Ct. 2012 (2017).
Veit, Constance. 2016. “Why We’re Suing Obamacare.” New York Times, March 19: A21.
Weber, Paul. 2003. “The Bad in the Faith-Based Initiative.” In Faith-Based Initiatives and the Bush Administration: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, edited by Jo Renee Formicola, Mary C. Segers, and Paul Weber, 63–114. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263 (1981).
Wilson, Robin Fretwell. 2016. “Bargaining for Religious Accommodations.” In The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty, edited by Micah Schwartzman, Chad Flanders, and Zoë Robinson, 257–283. New York: Oxford University Press.
Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356 (1886).
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 530 U.S. 639 (2002).
Zubik v. Burwell, 578 U.S. ___ (2016).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gill, E.R. (2019). Free Exercise of Religion and Public Funds. In: Free Exercise of Religion in the Liberal Polity. Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25037-9_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25037-9_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25036-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25037-9
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)