Grizzoola said:
It's a dangerous mix of religion and state, what the FFs tried to avoid. Too many wars caused over religious differences, supported by govts. Just look at the Middle East. When the Catholics controlled Europe, it was the darkest times in European history, persecutions, killings, wars, etc.
All valid points of history.
Nevertheless, despite crowing by the religious folks, and anguish by their opponents, the decision was about "equal treatment under the law." That is (see my comments above): if you allow a tax break to parents sending students to a
duly licensed and accredited private school, you cannot treat them differently based some part of the school's legally-allowed curriculum.
FWIW, my wife reminded me of a fact proven by years of observation: Many parents send their kids to "religious" schools without any adherence to the religion involve. (The suit was brought, BTW, by parents whose kids went to "nondenominational Christian" schools.) They simply want the best possible education for their kids, and they don't believe public schools in their area provide that. And they're often absolutely correct. Back when we ran a regional science fair here, we noted three facts. First, home schooled students won top awards out of all proportion to their numbers. Next in line were students enrolled in the Roman Catholic schools. And right behind them were students from, specifically, "Hope Lutheran" school. Despite vastly more entries, students from the public schools won comparatively few of our very top awards.