- Jan 2022
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mmcr.education mmcr.education
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We give everybody fire protection, but let the church burn down.
Does this analogy work when discussing wheather or not a church can receive public funds to upgrade facilities?
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So what is the definition of a church? So a religiously-affiliated school is not a church under the -- under the Missouri constitution?
Alito asking what the difference is between a church and a religiously affiliated school makes it pretty clear that he is a strong majority
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Very well. If it does not permit a law that pays money out of the treasury for the health of the children in the church, school, or even going to church, how does it permit Missouri to deny money to the same place for helping children not fall in the playground, cut their knees, get tetanus, break a leg, et cetera? What's the difference?
Breyer seems to be a majority because when it comes to matters of safety and well being, which the playground upgrade is, that seperation of church and state doesn't apply
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And doesn't that fit this case? And if so, is Everson passé?
Ginsburg seems like a dissenter as well. She is likening this case to Everson in which the court said, no, churches should not benefit from public money in maintaining their property
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what are we going to end up with when secular people say religious people are being discriminated in favor of and against us? If status should not be an effect on free exercise, what are we going to do with tax benefits?
Sotomayor appears to be the strongest dissenting voice. She seems worried that secular people would be able to claim discrimination in that tax exempt religious institutions are getting public money that they don't contribute to
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and they're disqualified solely because they are a religious institution doing religious things.
I'm slightly confused by the "discrimination" angle. How could it be considered discrimination if places of worship explicitly are not supposed to receive public funding??
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Well, there's plenty of people who would think tax exemption goes too far. David A Cortman Right. Sonia Sotomayor But I don't. I'm just saying there are people who make that claim.
What do you think Sotomayor's intention is in telling Cortman that many people think churches should not be tax exempt, but that she personally isn't one of those people?
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