On Wednesday, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses entitle religious organizations to hire employees in non-ministerial roles who align with their religious beliefs. A three-judge panel sided with the Yakima Union Gospel Mission, a Christian homeless shelter ministry with about 150 employees, which challenged a Washington state law that limits religious nonprofit ministries in decisions on who they can hire. The Ninth Circuit issued a narrow preliminary injunction preventing the state from enforcing its employment discrimination law against Union Gospel when its hiring decisions are based on religion.
In 2021, the Washington State Supreme Court narrowed the state’s 1949 anti-discrimination law forbidding ministries like Union Gospel from discriminating based solely on sexual orientation for non-ministerial roles. Union Gospel, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, argued that “churches and religious ministries have autonomy to hire fellow believers for all positions,” including IT technicians and other support and administrative roles. The appeals court agreed and upheld a lower court ruling that determined the First Amendment’s well-established church autonomy doctrine forbids government interference in the internal decisions that affect a religious institution’s faith and mission.
U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Bumatay, who authored the ruling, stated that the church autonomy doctrine protects religious ministries like Union Gospel from hiring people it believes would “undermine,” “contradict,” or “disavow” its own tenets, principles and beliefs.
“Under the church autonomy doctrine, Union Gospel may decline to hire as non-ministerial employees those who do not share its religious beliefs about marriage and sexuality,” wrote Judge Bumatay. “… Washington cannot override the First Amendment’s church autonomy doctrine.”
Judge Bumatay emphasized the ruling is additionally narrow limited to just “religious organizations like Union Gospel,” which does not include “businesses or hospitals” operated under religious institutions.
While religious institutions must follow general employment laws, those same laws cannot force them to employ people who would openly flout their beliefs, which “the First Amendment doesn’t tolerate,” concluded Judge Bumatay.
The Ninth Circuit’s ruling is a key victory for religious organizations regarding their employment decisions. Under the rationale that the church autonomy doctrine applies to non-ministerial roles for “religious organizations like Union Gospel,” religious schools would seem to fall under the ruling’s scope and have the freedom to hire or terminate employees that are not aligned with its religious doctrines.
In a case in the U.S. Fourth Circuit that has attracted national attention, Zinski v. Liberty University, Liberty Counsel represents Liberty University which terminated IT specialist Jonathan Zinski in 2023 for flagrantly and intentionally violating the university’s doctrinal statement regarding the biblical understanding of human sexuality. Zinski, a biological male, informed the university after his 90-day probationary employment period expired that he wanted to “transition” to “identify as female” and change his name to “Ellenor.” Zinski alleges his firing amounts to “sex discrimination.” Zinski set up this case when he applied to be hired. However, Liberty Counsel argues that Sections 702 and 703 of Title VII, the First Amendment, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) protect religious institutions like Liberty University to make employment decisions when those decisions are based on religion and the employee’s violative conduct.
While Zinski contends that Liberty University must be compelled to employ him despite his beliefs and actions being in direct opposition to the university’s religious mission, the Ninth Circuit’s ruling severely undermines that argument, which the Fourth Circuit is likely to consider.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The Ninth Circuit reaffirmed that the First Amendment protects a religious institution’s right to hire only people who adhere to the same sincerely held religious beliefs. This decision limits government interference and underscores that the church autonomy doctrine protects hiring decisions beyond just ministers and extends to non-ministerial support roles. The implications of this case can extend to Liberty Counsel’s case, Zinski v. Liberty University, where Jonathan Zinski intentionally and deceptively set up Liberty University to undermine its religious beliefs and mission. If a single employee can demand that its faith-based employer abandon its religious beliefs to conform to the employee’s worldview, then religious freedom has no meaning. This is precisely the reason we have exemptions for religious employers and educational institutions in federal law which fall squarely under the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free exercise Clauses.”
