The Supreme Court has taken another crack at explaining the government’s proper relationship to religion. Unfortunately, last week’s ruling in Locke vs. Davey, while it may seem limited just to the facts of a difficult case, could lead to substantial discrimination against religion. The defendant in the case was the state of Washington, which, like all states, is bound by the U.S. Constitution as well as its own. Under the U.S. Constitution, government may not establish religion or prohibit its free exercise. But Washington’s own constitution has a provision on religion not found in the federal Constitution, for it prohibits the state from even indirectly funding religious instruction.

That restriction came into play five years ago when the Washington legislature created a scholarship program designed to help high-achieving students from low-income families pay their college expenses.