The US religious exemption for education

Ross Woods, 2020, '22

Many US states have laws that exempt religious training from state regulation. The regulations vary greatly from state to state, with some having a "hands off" approach while others have restrictions. Some exempt only specific kinds of institutions, while others specify programs of study or degree titles. Some ban religious modifiers to secular degree titles (e.g. Arkansas and Florida). Some, such as Colorado, require registration of the organization and the specific degrees that may be offered. Georgia does not allow federal or state funding. Arizono requires tax exempt status.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the differentation between religious training that is exempt from state regulation and training that is not. Some laws are ambiguous, and differentiation factors vary greatly in reliablity.

I would qualify the discussion in several ways. First, any view is subject to a court test; the law would mean whatever the courts decided if a precedent were set and survived any challenges. The second is the role of complaint. Quite probably, almost all religious qualifications in bona fide institutions could ignore some differentiation principles, because they would not attract complaints. For example, it would be extraordinary if a public authority tried to disallow a seminary from teaching church music. Third, if a state office made a written determination, it would be highly unlikely that it would subsequently rule against that program.

Arizona

The law in Arizona is brief and very simple:

This means that degrees must be religious. This most clearly refers to the degree title, but to some extent, also refers to its content. Degrees must be used solely for religious purposes, although religious purposes is actually undefined. The phrase a religious organization is interpreted to refer to the organization offering the degree that must have tax exempt status from the IRS as a religious organization. The wording is ambiguous, in that the issuer could be any organization as long as the purpose of the degree is for use by religious organizations. In some other states, this kind of wording has referred to churches that give degrees, but such usage has not included consideration of other kinds of religious organizations (e.g. missions, seminaries, and benevolent charities).

The safest way to interpret this probably as follows:

1. The degree issuer must be religious and have tax exempt status with the IRS.
2. The degree must be religious in nature.
3. The degree must be intended for use in religious organizations.
4. The institutions that employ graduates are outside the control of the degree issuer. (They might not be religious and might not have IRS tax exempt status.)

The implications seem to be, first, that all degrees must have a religious descriptor in the degree title. It could be in the main title, e.g. Bachelor of Theology or in the postnominal or area of concentration as long as it is consistently included when the full degree title is used, e.g. Bachelor of Arts (Theology).

Second, the purpose of each degree should be stated in the catalog and should reflect religious purposes. The interesting point is that the purposes are the primary definer, not the content.

For clearly religious degrees (e.g. Master of Divinity), the content will clearly be religious and no further disambiguation is necessary. Some other fields, however, are often ambiguous such as leadership, education, and community ministries. It seems that Arizona allows these to be exempt, within reason.

As for primary application and purpose, Arizona religious degrees must meet the following conditions:

1. They must at least have a religious basis and a primary application in Christian non-profit organizations, such as churches, missions, Christian schools, and Christian universities. Chaplaincy is a specifically religious profession, and chaplains primarily minister outside the church, such as in schools, hospitals, and the military. However, they are usually under a religious umbrella organisation.
2. Programs may not have the primary purpose of achieving Arizona state licencing or certification. (In all or almost all US states, teachers must have teaching licences.) This criterion is useful as it applies a legally measurable goal in the State of Arizona.
3. In the more ambiguous degrees, at least 51% of units must clearly support a religious purpose so that the degree is a religious degree. (Measuring 51% is made easier if interpreted to be 51% of the semester hours.) It would be ideal, but not necessarily practical, that each degree should require at least 51% religious units. Again, they do not have to be primarily religious content, but should support a religious purpose. For example, secular subjects such as education, educational psychology, ethics, and child development could support a degree in Christian Education. That is, religious qualifications may contain non-religious units.
4. There is no limit on non-religious units that may be offered, so students could graduate with a transcript of degree equivalence in any secular field (e.g. a bachelor degree is usually 120 s.h.) as long as they did not graduate with a secular degree.
5. Students may still freely choose their topics of theses and dissertations, as long as they relate to the degree requirements.

The Texas supreme court case

The Texas supreme court case is helpful. Texas court rulings are not usually binding on Arizona state law, but this case was argued on constitutional religious freedom and separation of church and state, so it is more than illustrative. It contained three categories. The first and third are quite clear. The second category deals with the borderline cases; the question is really the difference between 2a and 2b.

Theology and secular counterparts

Many sub-disciplines of theology are the theological aspects of fully-developed secular disciplines such as history, linguistics, philosophy, education, and sociology. Consequently, many fields of theology and Christian ministry have secular counterparts and there is no hard border between them. In some universities, it is fairly common for students to obtain theologically relevant qualifications in secular university departments. See the appendix for examples.

Degrees in church music

This is the most potentially contentious aspect of the Texas ruling. Compared to the Arizona legislation, church music is clearly religious and has a primary application in churches.

Degrees in religion

What about degrees in religion? They are certainly religious, but don't qualify graduates for any specific profession. They are useful for becoming researchers in religious studies, for teaching in religious higher education in any of those religions, and for teaching in any secular institution that offered relevant courses.

Worldwide University once discussed a Master of Arts in Ancient Near East Studies (Religious backgrounds). It would be an exploration of the linguistic and cultural melieu of the ancient near east, specializing in its history and languages as the source of the world’s three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Studies in these fields are significant in textual study of their scriptures, comparative religion and religious apologetics.

Community ministries

Community ministries can be defined as having the following characteristics: Their purpose is to apply the scriptural teachings on benevolence. They are primarily intended for the wider community outside the church. They are provided by or under the auspices of a religious organization, such as a church or parachurch body.

Community ministries are usually a response to a specific kind of perceived need, such as hardship, poverty, or addiction. Some are educational (e.g. Christian schools), while others are orphanages. As a category of ministries, secular training might be quite appropriate. Christian ministries may include aspects of evangelism or pre-evangelism in some way, but it is not always an identifying characteristic of community ministry because some kinds of chaplaincy prohibit proselytizing.

State licensing or certification

The criterion of state licensing or certification of practitioners is generally a reliable guide, because legislation usually clarifies what must be licensed. The inclusion of regulated seems to refer to occupations that are controlled by legislation, and is slightly wider than state licensing or certification of practitioners. Although the Texas statement only applies directly to the state of Texas, it has been applied as a criterion in Arizona. US law provides for government regulation of activities where non-religious factors are more significant. For example, a religious school could not claim a religious exemption so that it could train medical practitioners on the basis that Christians should care for the sick. In contrast, Christian community ministries sometimes offer community health education programs that do not come under regulation.

However, it is not always conclusive. It could be difficult to apply as a wider principle in jurisdictions where the state regulates activities much more extensively than Texas. A degree might still meet certification requirements in other jurisdictions. Another example is military chaplains, who must have religious qualifications but who are subject to regulations for military appointment.

Scope of work

When the legislation in many US states with religious exemptions mentions vocational outcomes, the purpose of the exempt qualifications is to prepare candidates for a religious profession, usually specifiying that it must be within a religious organization.

In the Texas ruling, the more questionable item is the inclusion of able to work outside a church or church-related ministry, because many religious degrees are useful in parallel secular occupations or as religious occupations in the wider community. For example, a private secular school in a state where teachers need not be licensed might hire a person with a degree in religious education. The Texas ruling is probably better interpreted as meaning having the purpose of non-religious work outside a church or church-related ministry.

Degree titles

Degree titles are one of the more reliable means of differentiating between religious and secular qualifications, although a few states do not allow exempt organizations to issue qualifications at all. (Idaho, Oregon, Vermont). States have different views on whether the religious identifier must be in the main degree title or whether it may be in a modifier. To this one should add, that, if a modifier is permitted, then it should be included in public information, such as a catalog or advertising. It would probably be seen as unethical and misleading to offer a religious qualifation as if it were not.

The nature of the institution

Could any institution declare itself to be religious? In some states, it can. In other case, the name of the institution must contain a religious identifier.

Appendix: Theology and corresponding secular studies