Religious freedom is back on trial and pre-K kids could win big

Colorado politicians promised its families universal pre-kindergarten programs — but snatched the promise back from Catholic parents who want to choose a school that supports their religious beliefs.Parents fought them all the way to the US Supreme Court.On Tuesday the justices heard oral arguments in St.Mary Catholic Parish vs.

Roy, a case that pits Colorado’s Democrat-controlled state government against the Archdiocese of Denver and parents who were denied public tuition assistance for their preschoolers.It turned into a verbal fistfight as the court’s three left-leaning justices sought to halt a recent string of victories for religious freedom.Count on the conservative majority to rule for the archdiocese — and to bring financial relief and fairness to families of faith all across the country, including in New York.Colorado’s “universal” pre-K funds seats in public, private and religious schools for all kids — except those attending the Denver archdiocese’s schools. Those schools require pre-K parents to pledge in writing that they’ll support Church teachings on marriage, sex and gender.   The archdiocesan handbook declares that its schools will make no accommodations involving bathrooms, pronouns or school uniforms for transgender children.  Colorado’s left-leaning lawmakers consider these matters of Catholic doctrine to be bigoted — so they want archdiocesan schools to accept children whose parents reject the Church’s teachings.  Crazy.And outrageous: Colorado Democrats, along with their blue-state allies and the mainstream media, are accusing the Catholic schools of discrimination for following their faith.Yet according to the trial record, there hasn’t been a single instance of an LGBTQ family being turned away from a Catholic pre-K — because none has ever applied.They’ve freely chosen to attend other programs.Colorado admits its whole discrimination-based case is “speculative,” but it’s withholding funds fro...