Quite the epic church-state battle going on here in Indiana:
Striking down Indiana’s school voucher program because some schools are affiliated with churches would amount to unnecessary government interference into religion, the law’s supporters argue in court documents.
Opponents led by the Indiana State Teachers Association want the Indiana Supreme Court to overturn the voucher law, which has been upheld by a lower court. Indiana’s voucher program is the largest in the nation, with nearly 4,000 students participating. Opponents claim the program violates a state constitutional ban on government support of churches because it compels taxpayers to pay for schools that teach religion.
Diverting tax money to religious institution's would unconstitutionally entangle government and religion, says one side. No, says the other; preventing the diversion would be unnecessary government interference with religion. It's the two parts of the First Amendment's religious freedoms -- of religion and from religion -- being pitted against each other in the same court case. Our founders were worried mostly about freedom of religion, and throughout most of our early history the fights were about keeping government at bay. It's only in recent years that freedom from religion has taken center stage, as if faith were a disease that could contaminate the entire population if we let it become too prominent in the public square.
