Maryland does not have a robust school choice program wherein parents can easily or affordably move their children to a school that aligns with their religious values. Neither can parents move their child to a different public school, unless the family is severely impoverished, leaving middle-class families without options. Montgomery County parents are left with an impossible choice between their faith or an education for their child.

Our crucially important brief in this case explains that:

Parents retain freedom and autonomy to live out their faith in daily life. This includes removing their children from education, which is hostile to their beliefs, and degrades the purity of their children, without being forced to choose between the government benefit of public education and their faith. 

The lower court’s ruling in this case replaced the parent with the State and allowed the State to direct the religious future of children through the coercion of public education. Such a notion is diametrically opposed to the First Amendment and the principles on which America was founded. 

As noted in our brief, parents have the right to direct the education of their children in accordance with their faith and prevent government conscription of children as creatures of the state.  

Ironically, Maryland was originally established as a sanctuary for Catholics who faced severe persecution in England. In 1649, the Maryland General Assembly developed what would become the model for the free exercise of religion that Americans enjoy today (when school systems don’t try to quash that freedom, at least), writing:

No person … professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth be any way troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof … nor any way [be] compelled to the belief or exercise of any other Religion against his or her consent, so as they may be not unfaithful to the Lord Protietary, or molest or conspire against the civil Government.* 

The petitioners in this case are Islamic, Roman Catholic, and Ukrainian Orthodox. Though they attend different places of worship and hold different religious beliefs, their claims are the same — their sincerely held religious beliefs require that they direct and train their children in accord with their faith, not the government’s indoctrination, which, in this case, is the LGBTQ cult. 

Liberty Counsel has filed our brief with the High Courts. I will keep you updated on this case. Please pray for total and complete victory over Satan’s wicked design for our schools and our children. 

For over 35 years, Liberty Counsel has been defending life, religious freedom, and the natural family. We’ve won 37 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and thousands of others before state courts and the U.S. Courts of Appeal. We NEVER charge for our work. Our clients rely on YOU, the faithful Liberty Counsel supporter, to ensure liberty remains free. 

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Matt Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

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*Modernized spelling substituted for the older English from the original text.