Largest 'Christian' Adoption Agency Sues State After Funding Cut Over 'Must Affirm Apostle's Creed' Controversy

Bethany Christian Services, the largest ‘Christian’ adoption and foster agency in the United States, announced they are suing the state of Michigan for “discriminating against the organization because of its religious hiring practices,” according to a press release by the group.

“For the first time since Bethany began serving refugees in Michigan in 1962 and became a contractor of the state of Michigan in 1981, the organization has been denied refugee-resettlement services contracts because of their religious employment practices, even though federal law has long supported this civil right.”

Bethany says that funding was cut after officials took exception to their hiring practices, which require all employees to affirm the Apostles Creed. Nhung Hurst, the General Counsel for Bethany Christian Services, argued in the release:

“Federal law is clear, and the courts have repeatedly affirmed that faith-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, like ours, can hire staff and select leaders who share the organization’s faith mission. Federal law affirms that Muslim nonprofits can hire Muslims; Jewish nonprofits can hire people of Jewish faith; and Christian nonprofits can hire Christians.

For 50 years, this has been a long-standing American civil right that has never been controversial. We are disappointed that the state of Michigan would engage in religious discrimination, but we are confident that the courts will intervene and correct this injustice so we can continue serving men, women, and children across the state.”

We wrote about Bethany three years ago after they announced they would be offering their adoption services to homosexual, lesbian, and transgendered couples, with President and Chief executive Chris Palusky telling 1500 staff members in an email message, “We will now offer services with the love and compassion of Jesus to the many types of families who exist in our world today…We’re taking an ‘all hands on deck’ approach where all are welcome.”