Fourth Circuit upholds Virginia policy barring tax dollars for pastoral degrees

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Courthouse News Service

May 13, 2026


RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — The Fourth Circuit sided with Virginia Wednesday, ruling the commonwealth’s decision not to fund vocational religious degrees doesn’t run afoul of the Constitution.

The three-judge panel considered a challenge to the policy from a student at Liberty University, a private Baptist college in Lynchburg, Virginia, who accused state officials of violating the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. The state denied Bethany Hall, a student studying music and worship with a focus on youth ministries, a $5,000-per-year scholarship through the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant Program.

The panel agreed that the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Locke v. Davey foreclosed the challenge. In Locke, the high court upheld a Washington state policy closing off a scholarship to those pursuing religious studies.

Attorney Steven Fitschen of the National Legal Foundation, representing Hall, said in an interview his client is excited and hopeful that the Supreme Court will use the pending appeal to officially overrule Locke.

Read more: https://courthousenews.com/fourth-circuit-upholds-virginia-policy-barring-tax-dollars-for-pastoral-degrees/

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client is excited and hopeful that the Supreme Court will use the pending appeal to officially overrule Locke.

The minute the SCOTUS does that, EVERY non-Christian group will demand the same, including the very organizations the lunatic fringe evangelicals hate the most.

Of course Liberty University is Falwell's abomination.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. I can't believe SCOTUS ever went down the rabbit hole of religious beliefs

For every religious belief, you can find its opposite. Or create one. Or create a new religion.

Could someone please form a church that doesn't believe in gas prices over $3 a gallon?

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. They are at the point

now where they will, without qualm, vote in favor of Christians vote against non-Christians. They are establishing a theocracy.

[2na fisherman]

3. A Worthless Degree Or License To Fleece The Flock?

Any moron with one of these so-called Pastoral degrees can set up shop in a phony online church and ask for donations to get a tax-free ride. So many of these modern-day evangelists are obvious swindlers who live in mansions called parsonages and fly around in private aircraft while their clueless flocks send them money to preach the "prosperity gospel." Tax the church!