The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Saint Louis University, a Jesuit institution, was sufficiently secular that it was eligible to receive a municipal tax break that is central to its plan to build a new sports arena, the Associated Press reported.

The court ruled, 6 to 1, that because the Roman Catholic university is run by a predominantly lay Board of Directors, it is not controlled by a religious creed or owned by a church. The ruling, which upheld decisions by two lower courts, allows the university to seek $8-million in public funds for the arena.

A lawyer for a local group that sought to block the financing said the university could not continue to call itself a Roman Catholic or Jesuit institution and yet deny that it was controlled by their religious doctrine. He declined to say whether he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a similar case four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling that allowed Lipscomb University to take advantage of tax-exempt municipal bonds to build facilities even though the Tennessee institution, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, is “pervasively sectarian.”

The California Supreme Court reached a similar conclusion in a ruling last month for Azusa Pacific and California Baptist Universities. —Andrew Mytelka