Colorado: Federal Court rules Christian school can receive state funding without giving up religious beliefs

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A federal court has granted a preliminary injunction allowing a Christian school in Colorado to receive state funding without having to give up its religious beliefs even though it is currently engaged in a lawsuit against the state, CBN News reports.

The Darren Patterson Christian Academy filed suit against Colorado in June, because state officials said the school must set aside the practice of its Christian beliefs if it wanted to participate in the new universal preschool program, CBN reports. The program gives every four-year-old in the state at least 15 hours per week of state-funded preschool services per school year.

While the Colorado Department of Early Childhood said the Academy could receive funding under the program, it also mandated that the school must include non-Christians on its staff and must change its faith-based rules concerning sexuality and gender.

Granting the school’s request for a preliminary injunction, the US District Court for the District of Colorado said: “If {Colorado officials} enforce the anti-discrimination provisions against {Darren Patterson Christian Academy }—which they have left open the door to do—that will likely violate {the school’s} First Amendment rights. Indeed, exclusion of a preschool is inherently anti-universal, and denying participation based on one’s protected beliefs or speech is not equitable.”

In a statement to CBN’s Faithwire, the school’s attorney Jeremiah Galus said: “The school’s asking for no different treatment than every other business {and} every other organization. Every secular business and organization expects its employees to share its vision and values, and that’s all that Darren Patterson Christian Academy is trying to do.”

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