Liberty Counsel filed a religious discrimination lawsuit on behalf of Calvary Chapel Belfast against the University of Maine System (UMS) for unlawfully rescinding the church’s winning bid in a property sale because of the church’s Christian beliefs. Liberty Counsel is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent UMS from transferring ownership of the property to any other bidder as litigation continues.
According to the lawsuit, Calvary Chapel Belfast outscored two other competitors and “rightfully earned” the winning bid to solely negotiate the purchase of UMS’s Hutchinson Center, a building no longer in use by the university. However, the lawsuit alleges UMS officials conspired with one of the competing, secular bidders, Waldo Community Action Partners (WCAP), to rescind the award over the church’s scriptural beliefs on marriage and sexuality, and subsequently rigged a second bidding process awarding WCAP with the winning bid. Liberty Counsel alleges that UMS, Maine’s largest educational enterprise, has unlawfully conspired and discriminated against the church on the basis of religion in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments and requires a temporary restraining order to prevent irreparable infringement on the church’s rights.
Liberty Counsel’s lawsuit reads, “The Supreme Court has declared that excluding a religious organization ‘from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution.’” The lawsuit declares the High Court has ruled that state officials cannot act in hostile ways toward religious organizations nor can they pass judgment upon or presume the illegitimacy of their religious beliefs by excluding them from government programs.
“The University of Maine System and its officials have failed these lessons,” wrote Liberty Counsel. “This action therefore seeks to vindicate the Church’s constitutional rights and restore the Church’s rightfully earned opportunity to negotiate the purchase of the Hutchinson Center.”
In August 2024, Calvary Chapel Belfast submitted its bid to UMS for the Hutchinson Center, a building where it had previously rented space, to expand its congregation and community outreach. In addition to WCAP, the other competing bidder was Future of the Hutchinson Center Steering Committee and Waterfall Arts (FHC-WA). Once UMS announced the church as the winning bidder, both competing bidders sent a series of protest letters to the university attacking the church’s religious beliefs. As the lawsuit reads, FHC-WA essentially wrote that UMS should rescind the award because “a Christian church would necessarily discriminate against gays and lesbians.” WCAP’s protest letter also attacked the church stating it must not receive the property because its “very design” as a Christian Church was discriminatory and that its religious values should preclude it from the award. Initially, UMS defended its property sale to the church issuing a press release stating, “The university cannot discriminate, including on the basis of religion. Doing so would be against the law and inconsistent with the university’s commitment to inclusion.”
However, after continued public pressure, UMS’s Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration Ryan Low summarily rescinded the church’s bid award. While citing that WCAP’s protest had no merit, Low determined FHC-WA’s protest did have merit because the initial bid process contained a logistical and financial deficiency regarding how a university Internet hub in the Hutchinson Center would be handled. Despite the church having already negotiated with the university during its bid about leasing space for the hub, the lawsuit contends Low used the hub issue as a pretext to cover for the religious discrimination and force a second bidding process.
In October 2024, UMS held that second bidding process for the Hutchinson Center, but this time included a mandatory leaseback provision for the Internet hub. Calvary Chapel Belfast submitted a second bid that included an offer to provide a free lease for the hub’s closet space eliminating any financial burden on the university. Despite the church outscoring the other bidders again on most criteria except for purchase price, in which WCAP nearly tripled its offer, Low awarded the bid to WCAP.
“The decision to select WCAP as the purchaser, coupled with the shifting justifications provided throughout the bidding processes, demonstrates UMS’s failure to act neutrally and fairly in its treatment of the Church on the basis of the Church’s religion,” concluded Liberty Counsel.
Calvary Chapel Belfast is one of the six churches that birthed out of Calvary Chapel Bangor after Maine Governor Janet Mills ordered unconstitutional COVID-19 lockdowns for churches.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The University of Maine System violated the First Amendment by discrimination against a church because of its Christian beliefs. Such discrimination is unlawful. Calvary Chapel Belfast participated in the bidding processes in good faith, but the university unlawfully discriminated against the church’s religious beliefs. It is a sad day when government officials violate the Constitutional rights of its citizens. This is a costly mistake for the University of Maine System.”
