Fourth Circuit upholds Virginia policy barring tax dollars for pastoral degrees [View all]

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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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.