There’s Room for Compromise on FEMA Helping Houses of Worship

Disaster relief is the latest front in our never-ending conflict over church and state. Specifically, the question is whether Federal Emergency Management Agency aid should be available to help houses of worship rebuild when disaster strikes.

Earlier this month, FEMA issued new guidelines removing restrictions on such aid. This flies in the face of a 1971 Supreme Court decision, Tilton v. Richardson, which said it would violate the establishment clause for religious colleges or universities ever to use a facility they built with public funds for religious purposes.

But last year’s Trinity Lutheran decision, which said a church could not be barred from applying to a public program to resurface its playground, opened the way for a challenge to Tilton. Three Texas churches harmed by Hurricane Harvey sued to obtain FEMA rebuilding funds, a federal judge turned them down, and the churches took their case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Now, of course, the legal challenge will come from the other side — as in the church-state separationists who filed a brief supporting FEMA’s prior position: Americans United, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League and the Baptist Joint Committee.

The Trump administration, which embraces any religious rights claim not made by Muslims, will be defending the new FEMA rule.

In the meantime, however,…