World Vision wins appeal over hiring like-minded Christians

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that the Christian aid organization can continue to hire people who share its religious beliefs. The court found that the ministerial exception, derived from the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, allows World Vision to restrict hiring for positions that perform key religious functions to people who share the group’s faith.

What started this lawsuit? In 2021, Aubry McMahon sued the Seattle-based ministry after the organization rescinded a job offer for a customer service representative position when it learned she was in a same-sex marriage. World Vision’s standards of conduct for employees prohibit sexual activity outside of a marriage between one man and one woman. Faith-based organizations, including the First Liberty Institute, filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of World Vision.

Forcing religious organizations to hire people who disagree with their beliefs violates the group’s constitutional rights, said Senior Counsel for the First Liberty Institute Becky Dummermuth.

How did the legal case proceed? In June 2023, a district judge initially sided with World Vision before backtracking six weeks later and supporting McMahon. The former applicant argued the organization discriminated against her based on her sex, sexual orientation, and marital status and thus violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In December 2023, a federal judge rejected a second motion by the ministry to end the case, saying that not all positions were ministerial. World Vision last May agreed to pay $120,000 as part of a settlement to move the dispute through the appeals process. In its appeal to the 9th Circuit Court, World Vision successfully argued that customer service representatives do perform religious functions by effectively communicating about the organization’s ministries and projects to donors and supporters.

Dig deeper: Read Steve West’s report in Liberties about another ministry fighting to make hiring decisions according to its beliefs.