Can a religious degree be recognized by the state?

Can a religious degree (Associate of Arts in Christian Ministry, Master of Arts in Christian Ministry, Doctor of Divinity, Doctor of Theology etc.) be accredited or recognized by the state? Someone told me it would be impossible because there is separation of church and state. But I learned that there ar theological seminaries that have accreditation by governmental organizations!?

 

Many schools of religion voluntarily submit to the full state licensing procedure. There is nothing forbidding them from being treated just like any other non-religious school if they want to be. The religious exemption simply says that the state can't require it of them.

But this can be tricky, since some states simply grant automatic approvals to religious schools under their religious exemption. So if a religious school claims state recognition, that may or may not mean something, depending on how they got it.

 

Besides the state exemption/recognition issue, many Bible colleges/seminaries choose to be accredited by a regional or national (AABC, TRACS, ATS) accreditor. These have to go through all the rigors of the accreditation process.

 

Many, many, many seminaries and Christian colleges have regional accreditation.

Now, granted, they're probably all going to hell for getting it, but that's another story.



Tom Nixon