The Costs of Denying Religious Organizations the Right to Staff on a Religious Basis When They Join Federal Social Service Efforts
12 GEO. MASON U. CIVIL RIGHTS L. J. 159 (2002)
This article examines the importance of religious organizations' right to staff on a religious basis when they take part in federal social service efforts. Today the federal government collects more tax revenue than ever before, and provides fewer resources for citizens to direct to private organizations performing social services, including religious organizations. At the same time, the now-discarded “pervasively sectarian” test has left in its wake a variety of federal, state, and local provisions that exclude religious organizations from participating in social service efforts funded by federal taxpayer funds. This article then discusses the federal policy behind the existing exemption that religious organizations currently enjoy from Title VII's prohibition on discrimination in staffing based on religion. Despite such exemptions, religious organizations face the risk of losing important rights of association when they take part in federal social service efforts. Finally, this article further examines the costs of failing to protect those rights in the face of state and local provisions that restrict staffing decisions and thereby thwart federal policies aimed at welcoming religious organizations into the federal fight against poverty and hopelessness.
