Supreme Court rules for Lutheran church in playground funding case

The Supreme Court ruled for a Missouri church that claimed religious discrimination after it was refused state funds to improve its playground.

Ruling 7-2, the court determined that the state had unfairly treated Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia under the First Amendment’s free exercise clause.

The state wrongly denied the church “an otherwise available public benefit on account of its religious status,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “This Court has repeatedly confirmed that denying a generally available benefit solely on account of religious identity imposes a penalty on the free exercise of religion.”