Supreme Court rules state can't regulate Bible schools Respose

Freedom to practice the religion of your choice. This is a right that was given to us in the Constitution of the United States. But in the constitution of our own state this right had been taken away. In 1998 the Texas Supreme Courts ruled that they had the power to regulate the standard of seminary degrees and that if schools didn't comply with this they would get fined. Thier main objective to this bill was to stop "degree mills" from giving out achievement certifcates and passing them off as if the where actual degrees. They were concerned that these certificates were not being given out because the work was done but because the companies that were giving them out these were more concerned about making money, than actual academic acheviment. And this bothered the leaders of our state. But on august 31, 2007 the third circut of the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the government had no right to regulate the degrees,but in trying to do so they violated HEB's right to religious freedom. They also decided that the state can not stop institutions from using the term seminary. There most appreciated action was the turn over of a 173,000 dollar fine issued to the Tyndale Theological Seminary and Biblical Institute in Fort Worth.
Just reading this made me realize that there are alot of rights that we should never have let be taken away, or adjusted so that the government can control us more. This shows me how much more we have to work with our government and the people of power to make sure that these things don't happen as often. It's a tough job but someone has to do it.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/09/01/0901religion.html