ARTICLE

Faith Groups Protest Biden Plan To Control Their Employment Decisions

News Image By Bob Unruh - WND News Center April 11, 2024
Share this article:

"Nondiscrimination" schemes under the Joe Biden regime in Washington often have been used to advocate for blatant discrimination against Christians and Christian organizations.

One such situation recently developed when Democrats in Colorado insisted they could force a web designer to promote same-sex weddings if she provided any services to couples getting married.

The Supreme Court slapped down the state for violating the Constitution in its leftist agenda.

But those issues have developed over and over, and now it involves the State Department, which is proposing a new "nondiscrimination" demand that could affect the employment decisions of Christian ministries.

So officials with Samaritan's Purse, the Christian Legal Society, the Accord Network and other ministries have written to the State Department protesting the agency's plans.

Is "nondiscrimination" code-speak for discriminating against Christians?


The new proposal would ban discrimination against beneficiaries of programs that are sometimes given grants by the government "on specified bases."

But then the State Department bureaucrats also want to demand that those organizations providing benefits on a nondiscriminatory basis also hire employees on a nondiscriminatory basis.

The ministries in a letter to State explain that they "affirm" the idea of not discriminating against any benefit "recipient."

But the problem is the rules as planned by State threaten their right to hire employees they choose, and possibly could  force them to stop partnering with the government on aid programs.

It's not a small problem, they explain. "To illustrate the full extent of the potential loss of foreign assistance of USAID's top 50 largest foreign assistance recipients, religious organizations comprise $613 million in obligated agency funding in FY '23. They have worked in over 100 countries programming in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), displaced persons and refugee support, countertrafficking, and strengthening of civil society structures like health care and justice systems."

The aid organizations explain that the rule needs to provide that their religious character, affiliation, practices, and expressions of religious beliefs "will not preclude" them from participating in various programs.


They cite the Constitution, the religion clauses of the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and more to explain that the laws of the land require nondiscrimination rules to provide "overriding protection for religious freedom."

Without a provision for religious rights, the organizations told State, the proposed rules are "arbitrary and capricious" for failing "to consider a reasonable alternative, specifically, categorical exemption of religious organizations applying for foreign assistance grants and federal acquisition contracts..."

Without changes, the groups warn the Biden administration, "the regulations will infringe statutory and constitutional rights, frustrate the regulations' stated purpose, impede the delivery of foreign assistance, threaten the U.S. government's foreign policy objectives, foment expensive litigation and result in the unintended exclusion of religious organizations from being applicants and offerors for the department's grants and contracts."

Online, there's a petition procedure for people to sign up to agree with the comments: "I strongly oppose the U.S. State Department's consideration of new regulations that will cut off grants and contracts to Christian - and all faith-based - relief organizations that require their employees to share their faith and their religious values."

The charge to the government came from the Accord Network, Samaritan's Purse, Christian Legal Society, and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and others.


Specifically, the government is warned that there are such things as religious rights protected by the Constitution and the proposal would "not allow [faith-based organizations] to consider sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in the hiring process to remain eligible for foreign aid funding."

The ERLC explained, "Hiring staff members that reflect the religious beliefs of an organization is a long-standing pillar of religious liberty protections."

Franklin Graham, who heads Samaritan's Purse, added, "These proposed State Department regulations could be used to force faith-based organizations like Samaritan's Purse to hire staff who disagree with our core biblical beliefs about God's design for marriage, sexuality, and gender in order to be eligible for government grants."

He continued, "Samaritan's Purse is a Christian organization and we will not compromise on the fundamental principle of hiring like-minded Christians who share our calling, our stand on the authority of God's Word, and our statement of faith."

The groups explain in their letter to the government there needs to be a "categorical exemption" from religious belief requirements in the process.

Originally published at WND News Center




Other News

October 10, 2025Parents Beware: The U.N. Plans To End Homeschool Freedom

The United Nations just put a giant target on the backs of homeschoolers worldwide. Under the guise of "human rights," the U.N.'s controve...

October 10, 2025Why The New Peace Will Only Restart The War By Another Name

Within a decade, Gaza will be rebuilt. Aid will pour in. The same textbooks will quietly return, the same preachers will resume their serm...

October 08, 2025Tony Blair & Bill Gates: A Global Prototype Of The Antichrist And False Prophet?

We are not saying Tony Blair is the Antichrist, nor that Bill Gates is the False Prophet of Revelation. What we are saying, however, is th...

October 08, 2025The Left Continues To Support Violent Rhetoric - Where Is This All Leading?

A YouGov survey conducted immediately after the fatal shooting of Kirk asked if "it is ever justified for citizens to resort to violence i...

October 08, 2025Seattle Schools Promote Trans Agenda With Chest Binders, Tucking Underwear

Despite President Donald Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling," the Seattle Public Schools reportedly...

October 08, 2025Trump's Gaza Peace Plan - Scenarios For What Comes Next

Hamas is trying to create the impression of flexibility while fundamentally refusing to concede on the issues that matter most: its weapon...

October 06, 2025Disconnected: New Censorship Controls That Can Shut Off Your Phone & Internet

Not just banned or blocked but disconnected. That is the new proposal coming out of Canada to deal with 'threats' to those in power. A fut...

Get Breaking News