Both sides in a case concerning a Missouri church’s exclusion from a state grant program have filed briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court to prepare for a hearing.
In January, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear Trinity Lutheran Church’s dispute against the rejection of its application from a state grant program by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) which provides recycled scrap tires to resurface playgrounds.
Trinity Lutheran Church runs a child learning center that is open to the community. In 2012, the center submitted an application to the Playground Scrap Tire Surface Materials Grant Program, which the DNR ranked fifth among the 44 applications. However, the DNR denied the center’s application, pointing to the Missouri Constitution which prohibits the allocation of public money to fund any church.
The church sued and lost in the U.S. District Court in 2013. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled for the state.
In November, the church, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which accepted the case.
“Seeking to protect children from harm while they play tag and go down the slide is about as far from an ‘essentially religious endeavor’ as one can get,” reads ADF’s petition.
Erik Stanley, a member of the ADF legal team, says the hearing is expected to take place in October, according to the Associated Press.
