Youth ministry appeals to Supreme Court over right to hire Christian staff

A Christian ministry for at-risk youth is appealing to the Supreme Court for its right to exclusively hire people of faith.

Youth 71Five Ministries has asked the Supreme Court to hear its case after receiving unfavorable rulings from the lower courts.

71Five – a reference to Psalm 71:5 – is a nonprofit ministry serving at-risk youth in Oregon for over 60 years. Since 2017, 71Five has received grants from the Youth Development Division of the Oregon Department of Education (ODE).

However, in the 2023-25 grant cycle, ODE withdrew $410,000 from 71Five for allegedly violating the department’s new anti-discrimination rule. The rule forbade grant recipients from discriminating against protected classes in employment, vendor selection and other areas.

As a Christian ministry, 71Five requires its staff and volunteers to affirm a statement of faith – a right it believes is guaranteed by the First Amendment. Nevertheless, Oregon administrators kicked 71Five out of the grant program for alleged discrimination.

The ministry filed a lawsuit in 2024, arguing its religious freedoms were being violated, but both a federal judge and an appeals panel denied its claims.

Now, 71Five has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the rule.

“Oregon officials are marginalizing [71Five] because it’s a Christian ministry that reasonably asks its volunteers and staff to sign a statement of faith,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel John Bursch, who is representing the plaintiffs.

“By depriving 71Five of funding, Oregon is holding religious ministries and organizations to an unconstitutional choice: Hire those who reject your beliefs to receive grants or go without funding. We are urging the Supreme Court to review this case and affirm 71Five’s constitutionally protected freedoms.”

Whether religious groups should be able to receive public funds – and whether they are subject to anti-discrimination laws – has been a hot topic in legal debates. School choice advocates, for example, have fought for the rights of families to use government-funded scholarships to attend parochial schools.

Their efforts have been bolstered by the Supreme Court’s decision in Espinoza v. Montana (2020), when a majority of justices agreed the First Amendment protects religious groups from discrimination based on their religiosity – even when it comes to taxpayer-funded programs.

Another similar case was Trinity Lutheran v. Comer (2017), in which a church won a government grant for recyclable playground surface material after being initially excluded for being religious.

And 71Five’s lawsuit cites the recent case of 303 Creative v. Elenis (2023), in which the court decided a Christian wedding website designer couldn’t be forced to work for a same-sex couple, even though the state has an anti-discrimination law.

Such rulings affirm the constitutional rights of Christian organizations to operate in accordance with their beliefs and receive public benefits available to non-religious groups.