Virginia officials agreed not to force Christian ministries to violate their religious beliefs in a new settlement agreement reached Friday.
Christian Legal Organization Alliance Defending Freedom announced it had settled its 2020 lawsuit against the state on behalf of two churches, three Christian schools and a network of pro-life pregnancy centers opposing provisions of a national anti-discrimination law.
In Calvary Road Baptist Church v. Miyares, ADF argued that Virginia was violating its clients’ “statutory and constitutional rights,” with changes made in 2020 to existing anti-discrimination law. Sexual orientation and gender identity were added that year to protected categories under the law. Virginia Values Act and signed by former Democratic Governor Ralph Northam.
The ADF claimed the law “requires nonprofit ministries to abandon their core beliefs in recruitment and other policies, or face fines of up to $100,000 for each violation.”
Calvary Road Baptist Church settled with the state of Virginia last week. Courtesy: Alliance Defending Freedom
“Companion legislation required departments and others like them to include in employee health care plans coverage for “sex reassignment” and “gender affirmation” surgeries that run counter to their beliefs. It also prohibited ministries from offering gender-specific Bible studies and activities for youth,” the group said in a statement.
Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares agreed that the plaintiffs in the case, Calvary Road Baptist Church, Community Fellowship Church, Community Christian Academy and Care Net, were private religious institutions that “are not subject to regulation as places of public accommodation” under state law.
Under the terms of the settlement, the state agreed not to “require plaintiffs to employ individuals who do not profess and live by plaintiffs’ religious beliefs.” They also agreed not to force plaintiffs to provide “insurance plans, treatments, or gender transition procedures…that violate plaintiffs’ religious beliefs.”
Kevin Theriot, senior attorney for the ADF, said the state must continue to protect religious freedom without “fear of government sanctions.”
Religious ministries must be protected from fear of government sanctions, said Kevin Theriot, a lawyer for the ADF. (iStock)
“Religious organizations are free to exercise their ministries without fear of government sanctions, and Virginia law protects this fundamental right,” Theriot said in a statement. “Our clients are motivated by their faith to provide spiritual guidance, education, pregnancy support and sporting opportunities to their communities. The Commonwealth must respect their right, as that of anyone else, to continue to operate according to its own internal policies and codes of conduct regarding life, marriage and sexuality.
ADF attorneys filed a motion for dismissal in Loudoun County Circuit Court on Friday, said the press release.
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