ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND-CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY NEWS RELEASE
November 3, 2006 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020

Michigan charitable campaign discriminates against faith-based organizations

ADF and CLS attorneys file suit against Michigan officials
on behalf of faith-based organizations locked out of funding

LANSING, Mich. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and Christian Legal Society filed suit today against Michigan officials on behalf of the Association of Faith-Based Organizations. The state officials denied religious charitable organizations participation in the Michigan State Employees Combined Campaign, a program that allows state employees to voluntarily contribute payroll deductions to participating charitable organizations.

The campaign rejected certain AFBO members’ 2005 applications because they refused to sign away their constitutional right to select personnel who share the organizations’ religious beliefs.

The government cannot penalize religious organizations for exercising their constitutional right to select staff members who support their religious mission. That unfairly discriminates against those charities and denies employees the opportunity to contribute to their worthy causes,” said Steven H. Aden, chief litigation counsel for CLS’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom.

ADF and CLS attorneys are seeking a court ruling declaring Michigan’s policy unconstitutional and prohibiting officials from denying participation to AFBO’s members. A copy of the complaint filed in the case Association of Faith-Based Organizations v. Granholm in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Lansing Division, can be read at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/GranholmComplaint.pdf.

“Non-religious charitable organizations that restrict hiring to persons who agree with their mission are allowed to participate in the program, but AFBO’s members must abandon their religious hiring rights to be in the program,” Aden explained. “If it’s discrimination that Michigan officials are concerned about, then they shouldn’t practice it themselves.”

AFBO 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 outreach organizations, including the Christian Legal Society and other non-profit organizations.

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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