The justices agreed on April 20 to take up the case, which names Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, as defendant. The plaintiffs are two church parishes, St. Mary in Littleton and St. Bernadette in Lakewood, along with parents whose children attend or will attend their schools.
Colorado's legislature created the universal program in 2022. It offers state funding to public, private, and faith-based providers. To take part, a provider must follow the state's nondiscrimination rules, including those covering sexual orientation and gender identity. The parishes say that would force them to act against their convictions on marriage, sexuality, and whom they may employ, so they were left out.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Colorado's policy on Sept. 30, 2025. The plaintiffs' attorneys point out that the state allows secular enrollment preferences, such as for low-income children and children with disabilities, while refusing a religious one.
One plaintiff family, the Sheleys, are parishioners at St. Mary. Five of their children attend the parish school now, and the youngest is expected to start preschool there in 2028. The U.S. solicitor general, more than 20 states, and 43 Republican members of Congress have urged the Court to rule against Colorado. The case is expected to clarify what makes a law "generally applicable" under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
Whose child is it?
Strip away the legal vocabulary and you find a very old question. Who has the first claim on a little child's soul and mind? Is it the state, or is it the mother and father?
The Bible does not leave that in doubt. God put the child in the home, and He put the instruction there too.
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)
Notice who is told to do the training. Not a bureaucracy. A parent. A government may help a family, and a government may fund a school. But when it says, "Take our money, and set aside what you believe about God's design for men, women, and marriage," it has stopped helping. It has set a price on conscience.
The state of Colorado did not say these churches were poor teachers. It did not say the children were being neglected. It said, in effect, that a church whose faith is what it is cannot stand in the same line as everyone else. That is a policy, and it should be judged by the standard of Scripture and of the Constitution. By both standards it is a policy that punishes the faithful for being faithful.
I will say this plainly, and I will say it with grace toward those who hold office in Colorado. They carry a real responsibility, and many of them mean to serve children well. But good intentions do not make a law just. A rule that bars a church school because of its creed has moved from neutrality to hostility, however politely it is worded.
Think of what Christ did when the disciples tried to keep the children away. He was displeased with them.
"Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:14)
Forbid them not. That is the whole of it. Whoever stands between a child and the teaching of Christ takes on a heavy thing, whether a state office does it or a family member.
My friend, whatever the nine justices decide, the work given to the Christian parent does not change. Teach your children the Word. Teach it at the table and on the road and at bedtime. Courts can protect the open door, and we should be thankful when they do. But the faith itself is handed down from one heart to the next, and no state program can give it or take it away.