November 10, 2000

Judge Rejects Tax-Free Bonds for Religious University

By JEFFREY SELINGO

Lipscomb University, in Nashville, should not have been able to benefit from tax-exempt municipal bonds because the institution, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, is "pervasively sectarian," a federal judge ruled last month.

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger said that a Nashville industrial-development board had violated the First Amendment's prohibition of government support for religion when it approved a $15-million bond issue in 1991 for

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