New ‘nondiscrimination’ rule takes aim about ministries’ employees
By Bob Unruh
“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.
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.