Funding Conditions as Religious Gatekeepers

After recent Supreme Court rulings that bar excluding religious institutions from generally available public benefits, states are increasingly attaching behavioral or nondiscrimination conditions (e.g., enrollment rules on religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation) to participation. Those conditions can function like indirect exclusions—pushing schools to choose between public money and sticking to their religious missions—and now the Court must decide how far states may go. — The answer will determine whether governments can shape religious institutions’ internal policies via conditional funding, with major effects on vouchers, universal pre‑K, tax credits, and the balance between anti‑discrimination goals and religious liberty.