Christian rescue mission continues battle to hire the like-minded

Mike Johnson, the director of Yakima Union Gospel Mission in Yakima, Wash., wants to be able to hire employees who will support the organization’s Christian mission and agree with its beliefs and standards of conduct. But since 2021, a Washington Supreme Court ruling has threatened the ministry by limiting a religious exemption in the state’s nondiscrimination law to employees who fall under the ministerial exception.

Since the ruling, the ministry has lived with the possibility that the state could characterize some of its employees as non-ministers—those not serving vital religious functions—and require the organization to hire employees who do not agree with its beliefs.

In a complaint filed in federal district court in March 2023, the mission asked the court to block the state from violating its First Amendment right to hire co-religionists—those who share the mission’s beliefs. But in September 2023, a district court judge dismissed the case after she concluded the organization lacked standing to sue, as it had not shown a “credible threat of prosecution.”

On Friday, an attorney for the mission told a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that the mission’s belief that every employee is a minister should prevent any potential investigation of the mission by the state. But the state has refused to say it would not investigate, which means the mission has a right to pursue its lawsuit, said Ryan Tucker, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom.

The 87-year-old, 160-employee mission in central Washington serves the homeless with an array of programs, providing daily meals, a free medical clinic, and housing. Recovery programs help those they serve find jobs, manage money, overcome addictions, and reintegrate into society to live productive lives. Integral to its mission is the organization’s belief that every employee is a minister, Johnson says, responsible to introduce clients to the hope of the gospel.

On Friday, judges saved most of their questioning for Daniel Jeon, legal counsel for state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and other state officials, repeatedly questioning him on whether the state would disavow any intent to prosecute the mission. They seemed frustrated at his response.

“If you assume that they are in a position to say, ‘All of our folks here are ministers and co-religionists’—given that fact, are you prepared to respond to my colleague’s question?” asked Circuit Judge Milan Smith. “Is the attorney general of Washington prepared to say that you will not seek to prosecute the case against these folks?”

Jeon avoided a direct answer, saying only that “based on the record we have before us and which we must take as true, we haven’t investigated the Union Gospel Mission.”

“So you’re saying you can’t say,” said Smith. When judges continued to press Jeon with whether the state would disavow investigation or prosecution of the mission, he continued to refuse to be pinned down.

Near the end of questioning, Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, a Donald Trump appointee, summed up the case’s posture: “In some ways, the attorney general has the keys to this litigation in his own pocket.”

A ruling in the case will likely come sometime this fall and could either affirm the lower court’s dismissal or reinstate the case and send it back for further litigation. It will likely be an uphill battle. Washington courts, both state and federal, have not favored claims by Christian ministries when their Biblical beliefs have been pitted against claims of discrimination against people who identify as LGBTQ.

According to the mission’s brief filed with the court, its concern over state overreach stems from the state’s investigation of Seattle Pacific University under the same anti-discrimination law. Founded in the late 19th century as a seminary to train Methodist ministers, the school filed a lawsuit in 2022 in an effort to fend off an investigation by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson into the college’s hiring practices.

Ferguson launched the probe after receiving complaints over the school’s policy requiring employees to adhere to its Statement on Human Sexuality. The school filed its lawsuit after Ferguson sent a June 2022 letter demanding that the school turn over half a decade’s worth of employment records about every position at the school.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan dismissed Seattle Pacific’s lawsuit in October 2022, concluding that the court could not consider the claims because a federal court could not change state law or enjoin an ongoing state investigation.

In June, a different panel of the 9th Circuit reinstated the case, ruling that the school had standing to sue over possible injury because the state had not disavowed its intent to investigate it for violations of the anti-discrimination law.

In July 2023, a federal judge greenlighted a discrimination lawsuit brought against Christian aid group World Vision by a lesbian job applicant. The court ruled against World Vision in November 2023, and the ministry appealed to the 9th Circuit.

That case came after a frustrating legal process for a kindred ministry, Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, over a discrimination claim by a job applicant who identified as bisexual and applied for a staff attorney position. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a Washington Supreme Court ruling against the ministry.

In a statement accompanying the denial of review and joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito indicated what was at stake in all such cases. “If states could compel religious organizations to hire employees who fundamentally disagree with them, many religious non-profits would be

extinguished from participation in public life,” wrote Alito. That, he added, “would greatly impoverish our nation’s civic and religious life.”

During Friday’s arguments, Circuit Judge Bennett asked ADF attorney Tucker what would happen if the state said it wouldn’t prosecute Yakima Union Gospel Mission.

“If they stand up here and say, ‘We’re not going to enforce this,’ then I don’t have a dog in the fight,” Tucker responded. “If they stand up here and say, ‘Well, no, we are,’ or if they don’t answer the question, then I have every reason to be here.”