Texas Supreme Court rejects state control of seminary decisions
ADF provided funding in case litigated by Liberty Legal InstituteAUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion issued Friday, overturned a decision by the Texas Court of Appeals and affirmed the right of Tyndale Seminary to award degrees without prior state approval of the school’s board, faculty, and curriculum. ADF provided funding for its ally, Liberty Legal Institute, to represent the seminary before the court.
“The role of government should not be to invasively control the religious training of seminaries. If the government is allowed to do so, it could be able to control all of our churches and religious organizations,” said ADF-allied attorney Kelly Shackelford, president of Liberty Legal Institute, who litigated the case before the Texas high court. “This ruling now gives freedom to many small seminaries that had been quashed by an attempted government takeover of religious teaching and training. It’s a landmark victory for religious freedom.”
Texas law states that private educational institutions that are not accredited by the state cannot grant degrees unless they are issued a “certificate of authority” by the state’s higher education coordinating board. The state fined H.E.B Ministries, which operates Tyndale Seminary, $173,000 for using the word “seminary” and issuing theology degrees without receiving government approval. Attorneys with Liberty Legal Institute argued that the law violates the Texas Constitution and the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution because of the breadth of its scope.
The court wrote that the Texas law’s “restriction on the words that a religious institution may use to refer to completion of religious programs of study is so broad that it violates the Free Exercise guarantees of the First Amendment and the Texas Constitution. The State may not deny a religious program of study clearly denominated as such the use of all words capable of describing educational achievement.”
“This is a tremendous victory not only for Tyndale Seminary, but for all seminaries and religious schools across Texas,” said ADF Senior Counsel Joe Infranco. “These schools can now continue with their mission to train spiritual leaders without fear of government interference.”
A full text of the opinion issued by the Texas Supreme Court in H.E.B. Ministries v. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board can be read at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/HEBOpinion.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
