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Case Controversy: Trinity Lutheran Church Of Columbia V. Pauley

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May it please the court, I come here today to address an issue that is central to the constitutional foundations of our nation: that is, the ongoing debate regarding the First Amendment, religious liberty and the separation of church and state. Specifically I wish to discuss the current controversy that involves the matter of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley. In summary, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia is a daycare organization that has some religious classes. They applied for funds for playground equipment and were denied by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for funds, because Article I, Section 7 of the Missouri Constitution says that money shouldn't be given to organizations that support religion. Trinity sued because it is against Freedom of religion if you are going to cut off certain groups of people from grants or charity, just…show more content…
In Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), “the Supreme Court established a three-part test for determining when states were allowed to support religious accommodations, making it permissible when the law served a “secular legislative purpose;” when the law did not promote or impede religious interests, and when the law would not create ‘an excessive government entanglement with religion.’”(P. R. Lockhart, 2016) There is a similar case that involves freedom of religion, equality and the First Amendment, which is In Westside Community Board of Education v. Mergens (1990) “the Court upheld application of the Equal Access Act to prevent a secondary school from denying access to school premises to a student religious club while granting access to such other “noncurriculum” related student groups as a scuba diving club, a chess club, and a service club”(Justia
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