Minnesota passed a law discriminating against faith-based institutions

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Opinion
Minnesota passed a law discriminating against faith-based institutions
Opinion
Minnesota passed a law discriminating against faith-based institutions
Tim Walz
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN).

I regret to inform you Minnesota is at it again. I’ve documented in
these pages
and in the Washington Examiner
magazine
how Minnesota’s slow descent into liberalism is an example of what happens when extremists take over the party and implement their progressive policies that affect regular people. Of course, the madness has only continued. Now, the Left is targeting Christians and faith-based education.

A group of Christian parents and schools
recently filed a lawsuit
challenging an amendment to a
Minnesota law
that will now remove the ability of most religious universities and colleges to give on-campus college credits free of charge to high school students, something called the Post Secondary Enrollment Options program, which has been going for over 35 years.


A DEBT LIMIT WIN FOR THE GOP

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) recently signed the education finance bill, which amends the law that determines boundaries for the PSEO program. The new amendment excluded religious schools such as the ones these parents’ children wanted to attend, specifically the University of Northwestern, St. Paul, and Crown College, if such religious schools require a “statement of faith” from students.

Most faith-based schools require statements of faith asking students to adhere to the schools’ rules, affirm their own personal faith, and affirm their commitment to pursuing a faith-based education.

Now, these Christian students who had planned to get a jump start on their higher education in a faith-based environment using this program can’t.

“The PSEO program guarantees all students equal opportunity to pursue excellent academics at a school of their choice,” Mark and Melinda Loe, plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement. “It gave our older children a head start on college in Christ-centered communities at Northwestern and Crown. All we want is for the rest of our children to have the same opportunity to be educated in an environment consistent with their religious beliefs. Rather than discriminating against people of faith, Minnesota should be looking for ways to help all students find a school that best fits their interests and values.”

According to the
original complaint
filed, “Minnesota knowingly excluded Crown and Northwestern from the PSEO program because of their religious beliefs, even after being warned this was unconstitutional.”

What Walz did is not only unconstitutional but bigoted and discriminatory. Walz and Democratic lawmakers will undoubtedly say the law was amended so the program couldn’t be labeled as a violation of the separation of church and state. But three times in similar cases, the Supreme Court has recently found this isn’t accurate. There is no other reason, other than pure anti-Christian bigotry, to target Christian schools that require students to adhere to certain guidelines.

Minnesota has already become a beacon of liberal ideas, from its extraordinary tax rate and Black Lives Matter riots, which cost the Twin Cities billions of dollars, to its social policies, such as passing an extreme abortion bill and a
law that means Minnesota
is now a place of refuge for transgender children from out of state.

It’s no surprise that lawmakers would pass a bill that’s discriminatory toward Christians. It’s bigoted, it’s unconstitutional, and it’s, unfortunately, just the kind of thing Minnesota has come to represent.


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Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She is an opinion columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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