Vouchers and Anti-Catholic Bias

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty researched this history and found it to be far more clouded. The term "non-sectarian" in 19th century legislation did not mean "secular," as one might use the term today. It really meant non-denominational Protestant. Public schools in the 19th century had no problems instructing in Protestant beliefs or using the King James Version of the Bible for moral education. The prohibition of funds to sectarian schools was not an effort to avoid violating the Establishment clause of the First Amendment. Indeed, in the 19th century the "Incorporation" doctrine did not exist and Constitutional First Amendment proscriptions did not apply to the states. Rather, efforts to prohibit funds to non-sectarian schools arose out of a Nativist belief that state funds should not be used to aid Catholic schools in any way.

No one argues that state funds should be used directly for religious instruction, but there is really no Constitutional prohibition preventing students using state-supplied scholarships or vouchers at schools that parents choose. One may argue that vouchers are or are not effective means to improve education, but they are Constitutional without question. In the 19th century, opposition to public funds following students to alternative schools was partially based on ugly anti-Catholic bias. One hopes that the current objections are borne out of honest mistakes and not similar anti-Catholic and perhaps anti-religious sentiment.

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