Courts have held that Christian organizations have the right to hire individuals who share the organization’s statement of faith and mission. A ministry called Youth 71Five in Oregon is fighting to protect its right to hire like-minded individuals.
A Christian organization in Washington, the Yakima Union Gospel Mission, just won its preliminary fight to protect its right to hire only Christians. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) represents the organization.
After a lower court ruled against Union Gospel, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sent the case back to the lower court to reconsider. The lower court issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the law while the case is still pending, and a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit agreed.
The court contended (PDF) that “Union Gospel is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that enforcing WLAD against it for hiring only co-religionists violates the church autonomy doctrine, as established by the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses.”
The court added that the organization’s “hiring policy constitutes an internal management decision that is essential to the institution’s central mission.”
Union Gospel filed a pre-enforcement lawsuit in 2023 against the state over religious discrimination. The Washington Supreme Court had reinterpreted a non-discrimination law in a way that bars religious organizations from hiring people who share the faith and the mission.
It was only a matter of time before the organization was ensnared in a “discrimination” lawsuit.
“Yakima Union Gospel Mission exists to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through its homeless shelter, addiction-recovery programs, outreach efforts, meal services, and health clinics,” said ADF senior counsel Jeremiah Galus, who argued before the court. “The 9th Circuit correctly ruled that the First Amendment protects the mission’s freedom to hire fellow believers who share that calling.”
