Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
New Hope Family Services, a faith-based adoption agency in New York, has faced years of harassment from the New York Division of Human Rights.
The Christian agency believes that marriage is a God-ordained covenantal union between one man and one woman and seeks to uphold its values and beliefs. Sending children to single-parent or homosexual households conflicts with its values and beliefs.
The government claims New Hope is violating the law, but two federal courts have ruled otherwise in the case of New Hope Family Services v. Poole. The courts contended that forcing New Hope to comply with the so-called non-discrimination law likely violated the agency’s First Amendment rights.
But there’s good news for New Hope and for all faith-based organizations in the state. The parties have settled, and the state will pay the agency $250,000 in legal fees.
Unfortunately, New York isn’t done with New Hope. From the agency’s legal counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom (emphasis added):
ADF attorneys are still litigating a different case for New Hope Family Services against New York state officials. Yet another state agency sought to punish New Hope for the very same religious policy that the federal court upheld in Poole. The New York Division of Human Rights threatened to investigate and penalize the Christian nonprofit because it places infants with couples consisting of a mother and father committed to each other in marriage.
We know that children generally are better off in homes with a married father and mother, as opposed to any other kind of home. Beyond this, a religious adoption agency has the right to uphold its religious beliefs in the adoption process. The marriage requirement aligns with New Hope’s beliefs about marriage and sexuality.
Photo credit: Alliance Defending Freedom
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