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…