A lawsuit filed by a recently-formed LGBT activist group on behalf of some current and former students seeks to prevent any student from using tuition grants, student loans, and any other federal financial assistance at private religious colleges that operate according to Christian beliefs on gender and sexuality. The lawsuit, Hunter v. U.S. Department of Education, asks a federal district court to dismantle the long-established protections in Title IX preventing discrimination against religious schools in the disbursement of financial aid. Yet no schools that would be affected by such a radical change were sued, so they are unable to participate and defend their rights. The Department of Education, which was sued, is unlikely to vigorously defend religious schools’ interests given its view that LGBT interests are more important than religious freedom.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent three Christian post-secondary schools in this case – Corban University, William Jessup University, and Phoenix Seminary. These schools are asking the court to allow them to participate and defend the relevant protections in Title IX. Ultimately, all these schools ask is for the right to operate consistently with their beliefs – the very beliefs that inspire everything they do.
Students often choose to attend religious schools because they want an education and environment that will share and support their beliefs. If students lose federal aid simply because they decide to attend a religious school, hundreds of thousands of students nationwide would be forced to make a choice: lose their student aid or attend a different school altogether. No court should grant a radical request to rewrite federal law to target religious colleges by stripping them, and their students, of much-needed financial aid.
Here’s how you can pray for this lawsuit and these religious schools:
Judicial
Pray that the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon recognizes that religious educational institutions have a constitutional right to operate according to their beliefs.
Legislative
Pray that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and state-level RFRA laws will remain and be properly applied in court to protect the vision and mission of religious higher education institutions.
Cultural
Pray that people will be made aware of the good deeds religious schools do in serving their communities and preparing students to be servant-leaders for the betterment of society.
Church
Pray that the Church will speak up in defense of these Christian schools.
What is a Generational Win?
Each generation has the responsibility to protect the freedoms of the next. That is why ADF focuses on generational wins. These victories change the law and culture of the nation and are sustained by deliberate action so that the victory endures for future generations.
- Life is safeguarded
- Religious Freedom prevails
- All can Speak Freely
- Marriage and Family are protected
- Parental Rights are guaranteed
