A Christian youth ministry group is experiencing financial problems causing “irreparable harm” after an Oregon government agency conditioned critical funds on whether it would hire people who do not fit the nonprofit's deeply held religious beliefs. , according to accusations presented to the court.
Oregon-based Christian ministry group 71Five Ministries is currently dealing with a large shortfall in its annual budget after the state education department allegedly stripped it of its funding due to its religious nature, according to the lawsuit, originally filed by Alliance Defending Freedom in March. alleged. The case concluded oral arguments last week and is awaiting a decision from a judge in the case.
“It felt like a punch in the gut,” Bud Amundsen, executive director of the Christian youth mentoring nonprofit, told Fox News Digital.
“We were actually one of his favorite shows,” he added.
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A Christian ministry in Oregon that serves at-risk youth had its education department funding cut because of its religious nature, according to a lawsuit. (Fox News Digital)
71Five Ministries serves at-risk youth of all faiths and backgrounds, including those who are incarcerated and those who are children of teenagers and teen parents. He had been granted funding for six years before being abruptly denied over a “statement of faith” expected from his staff.
The ministry required all board members, employees and volunteers “to be true followers of Christ.” The ADF argued that as a religious organization it has a legally protected right to prefer members of its own faith as employees and volunteers. The ADF relied on Supreme Court rulings, including one that said the government cannot interfere with a religious organization's “selection of those who will embody its beliefs.”
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“When they gave us the funding, we were happy to continue with the partnership. And then to have it withdrawn and to have it withdrawn for that reason, I mean… [I was] “How the hell could that happen?” Amundsen said.
Amundsen added that he still doesn't know how he will fill the financial gap for the next fiscal year.
“My hope and my goal is not to reduce staff, which will reduce access for young people,” he said. “I've had a variety of emotions related to that. And probably the best thing I can say is that now it seems like we're not very appreciated, that our hard work has basically been thrown in the trash simply because they don't agree with our faith perspective.”
71Cinco CEO Bud Amundsen (71five)
Amundsen said he is tapping into the nonprofit's reserves to ensure its staff are not laid off and that local youth are not turned away for lack of resources.
“We are in the middle of [dealing with this] right now. The amount of the subsidies exceeded 10% of our budget. And so to do that, we obviously have to approach…funding in a different way,” he said. “We've had to spend $187,000 in reserves to keep the programming going.”
“Defendants decided for the first time to prohibit religious organizations from participating in the program if they prefer members of their own faith as employees and volunteers,” the lawsuit says. “This new rule led defendants to strip 71Five Ministries of more than $400,000 in grants just because the Christian ministry expects its employees and volunteers to share its religious beliefs and mission.”
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Jeremiah Galus, senior attorney for the ADF, said: “The Supreme Court had to tell state officials three times in a seven-year period that religious organizations cannot be excluded from their programs just because they are religious.”
“But unfortunately, we see officials like the officials here in the state of Oregon who continue to push back and test those boundaries and try to find other ways to exclude religious organizations. It's wrong.”
“This is a situation where the state of Oregon has partnered with 71Five for six consecutive years. No one questions that 71Five admirably served the purposes of the grant program, that they are doing good work for young people. And to put it simply, because “You are religious, because you have a religious staff that somehow prevents you from helping children; the First Amendment does not allow it.”
Jeremiah Galus serves as Senior Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, where he is a key member of the Center for Christian Ministries. (Fox News Digital)
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“At the end of the day, this is not only a violation of 71Five's constitutional rights, which is bad enough, but it is actually harming the youth of Southern Oregon who cannot access these services. 71Five cannot expanding their programs will help more children, and that is a tragedy,” Galus added. “Us [at ADF] “We want to ensure that 71Five is not excluded from any future grant programs and that no other religious organization suffers the same religious discrimination as 71Five.”
The Oregon Department of Education was contacted for comment and said, “The agency does not comment on pending legal cases.”
