Religious colleges that require students to sign a statement of faith will no longer be excluded from a program in Minnesota that allows high school students to earn free college credit, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel said in her ruling that the Faith Statement Ban is unconstitutional and violates religious freedom.
Brasel noted in her ruling that the state law targets religious conduct because it excludes institutions that “require applicants to attest to their faith” but it doesn’t target schools that ask applicants to make “non-religious attestations,” like an honor code.
The Postsecondary Enrollment Options program has existed in Minnesota for 40 years and allows high school students to earn free credits at public or private colleges of their choice.
The ruling is seen as a win by the two Christian colleges, Crown College and the University of Northwestern, that require students to sign a pledge of faith.
The ban on the religious institutions was put in place in 2023, when Democrats took control of the state legislature.
Advocates for the law say the faith statements exclude students who don’t align with the schools’ beliefs, including LGBTQ students.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represented several families affected by the law and sued the state of Minnesota over the issue. The families argued the rule violated their religious freedom under the First Amendment.
“Minnesota tried to cut off educational opportunities to thousands of high schoolers simply for their faith,” Becket senior counsel Diana Thomson said in a statement. “That’s not just unlawful — it’s shameful.”
Thomson celebrated the ruling, calling it a win for families who refused to be “strong-armed into abandoning their beliefs” and said it was a “sharp warning” to politicians that target them.
The state agreed that the ban would not be enforced while the case played out in court.
The Deseret News has reached out to the Minnesota Department of Education for comment.
