“We are Christians, that is, we follow the example of Jesus to show unconditional love to the poor and oppressed. Serving all the children we can, of any faith or none. This is how World Vision, a global humanitarian aid organization, present himself. The nonprofit organization’s goal is to feed the hungry and clothe the poor, having help more than 30 million disaster survivors and 3.2 million children through its child sponsorship program.
But while many celebrate the work of World Vision, some attack its identity. Like Steve West reported in August, the Christian charity faced a legal challenge over its employee conduct policy. A same-sex marriage applicant sued the organization under Washington’s “anti-discrimination law” after World Vision rescinded a job offer based on her violation of its sexual conduct policy.
The trial gets off to a discouraging start. A federal judge recently ruled that World Vision was effectively in conflict with Washington law and was not protected by the “doctrine of church autonomy” – a legal principle derived from the First Amendment and intended to protect religious organizations from judicial interference in the application of their theology.
Do religious organizations have the autonomy to hire or retain employees based on their beliefs? The Constitution clearly answers: “Yes”. But the debate goes well beyond the World Vision saga; for example, my employer, Alliance Defending Freedom, has been advocating on this issue for years.
Last November, the Wyoming Rescue Mission won after refusing to hire a non-Christian for an associate position at a thrift store – a role expected to teach guests of the mission’s Discipleship Recovery Program how to spread the gospel and train one another others. In Michigan, the legal battle This continues for Christian Health Centers and Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, which seeks to apply Christian theology to the recruitment and retention of medical staff and teachers. The state, however, insists on the application of a “diversity” regime that prioritizes gender ideology rather than the freedom of religious organizations to be authentically religious.
A similar trial is taking place in Washington state, where the Yakima Union Evangelical Mission challenges the application of the same law used as a weapon against World Vision. The mission launched its legal action following the Washington Supreme Court’s egregious 2021 ruling against a similar ministry, the Seattle Union Evangelical Missionand the subsequent decision by state officials to begin enforcing the law against religious organizations, which they did last year while investigating a Christian university that hired only Christians.
The state’s enforcement of Washington’s law against religious employers leaves them with an impossible choice: either hire those who disagree with your biblical beliefs and seek to change them, or stop following your religious calling . Following the Washington Supreme Court’s ruling, the Seattle Mission asked the United States Supreme Court to hear its case. Unfortunately, the High Court refused.
In a statement explaining the decision, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas emphasized that the questions were still vitally important:
Forcing religious organizations to hire messengers and other personnel who do not share their religious views would undermine not only the autonomy of many religious organizations, but also their viability. If states could force religious organizations to hire employees who fundamentally disagree with them, many religious nonprofits would be excluded from public life – perhaps by those who most vigorously disagree with their views. theological.
So why is the “doctrine of church autonomy” important? Because Christian organizations will cease to be truly Christian if they are forced to hire non-believers.
To be clear, Christians will continue to be the hands and feet of Christ whether or not state officials “allow” us to organize as nonprofits. But the genius and gift of our First Amendment cannot simply be ignored. And religious freedom is a legacy that matters to all Americans, whether you are an ordained minister or not.
Religious organizations have been an extremely beneficial force throughout our nation’s history, in large part because of their religious identity. We may have declined the religiously saturated society that French politician Alexis de Tocqueville highlighted in Democracy in America. But religious organizations remain very relevant. In fact, a 2016 study estimates that religion (including religious organizations and the impact of religion on U.S. businesses) contributes nearly $1.2 trillion in socioeconomic value to the U.S. economy.
Faced with epidemics (solitude, homelessOr opioid) and a dozen other national social challenges, we cannot afford to let our Christian ministries and partnerships handcuffed by unjust laws.
The story of World Vision is neither finished nor unique. The struggle for religious autonomy is part of a larger Christian effort to faithfully live the gospel – for the spiritual and physical benefit of our neighbors. We hope that the good legal arguments presented in these cases will convince American judges. But far more important is that we will one day hear our Ultimate Judge commend us for feeding the hungry and helping the poor in his name.
