ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND-CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY NEWS RELEASE
December 18, 2006 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020

Federal government puts the ‘freeze' on religious hiring

Faith-based organizations stand up for their rights in federal court

PITTSBURGH — Attorneys with the Christian Legal Society and Alliance Defense Fund filed suit Thursday on behalf of Geneva College and the Association of Faith-Based Organizations against the federal government and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for denying them access to Pennsylvania’s employment services due to the schools’ religious staffing requirements.

"Religious organizations have every legal right to hire employees that share their beliefs and values,” said Timothy J. Tracey, litigation counsel for CLS’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom. “Religious employers are deprived of this right when Pennsylvania and the federal government attempt to coerce them into hiring people who do not share their beliefs.”

The federal government provides Pennsylvania funding to offer a host of job placement and listing services to employers and job seekers. AFBO’s members and Geneva College are being denied the ability to list positions with these services, including an Internet-based service called “CareerLink,” because a governmental “nondiscrimination policy” prohibits the listing of religious staffing requirements.

“Other employers are allowed to hire the person best suited for the job. Religious employers should be allowed to do the same,” said Tracey.

Geneva College (http://www.geneva.edu/) is a four-year private Christian college in Pennsylvania. AFBO (www.allfaithbased.org) is an association of non-profit religious charities seeking to protect the constitutional freedom of religious organizations to staff and select members on a religious basis. AFBO is comprised of social service providers, educational institutions, membership associations, and advocacy and outreach organizations.

CLS and ADF attorneys are seeking a court ruling declaring the nondiscrimination policy unconstitutional as applied to religious organizations and an order directing the defendants to permit faith-based groups to post their employment notices on CareerLink. The complaint filed in Geneva College v. Chao in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania can be viewed at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/GenevaComplaint.pdf.

Pittsburgh attorneys John Edgar and Lawrence Paladin, an ADF-allied attorney, are also attorneys of record in the case.

Together, ADF, America’s largest legal alliance, and CLS, America’s premier network of Christian legal professionals, defend religious liberty, human life, marriage, and the family.

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