This is a blatant attack on religious freedom and on Christianity itself. Intervene, God!

From WORLD. A Maine Christian school filed a lawsuit last week to stop the state government from maneuvering around religious liberty protections established by the Supreme Court.

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Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that Maine could not exclude religious schools from its rural tuition program. The program allows school districts that do not have their own high schools to pay tuition for local students. … Bangor Christian School, founded in 1970, participated in the program until 1981, when the state amended the law to require that participating schools be nonsectarian.

In its Carson v. Makin decision last year, the Supreme Court agreed with three families … that Maine’s sectarian exclusion violated the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.

Undeterred, Maine pressed ahead — even during the Carson litigation — enacting what challengers have dubbed a “poison pill” by amending the state’s Human Rights Act to add gender identity and religion as protected classes and narrowing the preexisting exemption for religious schools. State law now excludes religious schools from the tuition program unless they agree not to discriminate in hiring and admissions on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

That means Bangor Christian School is ineligible because of its statement on marriage and sexuality. It describes marriage as only between one man and one woman. …

In its March 27 lawsuit, the school challenged Maine’s backdoor attempt to get around the Supreme Court’s decision. …

Along with the complaint, school attorneys filed a motion asking the court to block the state from enforcing the law until the lawsuit is resolved. While no hearing has been scheduled on the motion … the court generally schedules a hearing as soon as practical — meaning, a ruling could come well before the bell rings on the next school year.

For many Christian parents in rural Maine trying to decide where their kids will attend school this fall, it can’t come too soon.

How are you praying about this situation in Maine? Share this article to encourage others to pray.

(Excerpt from WORLD. Photo Credit: Getty Images)