As previously reported by Christian Life Daily, St. Vincent Catholic Charities, whose mission is to facilitate Christian foster care and adoption services, is under attack by radical Atheist groups.
They’ve been sued by the ACLU and are having to fight for their rights in court.
Now, Michigan’s Attorney General, a liberal Democrat and lesbian, is bringing the full force of the state government to bear in an all-out effort to destroy St. Vincent once and for all.
Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel has officially announced that Christian “foster care case management and adoption services is illegal.”
This declaration in effect completely voids a package of religious freedom laws passed by the former Governor Rick Snyder who fought hard to build protections for Christian foster and adoption services.
As a result, St. Vincent as well as other Christian agencies in the state like Bethany Christian Services now face the threat of legal or even criminal prosecution for continuing to help place desperate children in loving Christian homes.
According to Life Site News, “Catholic Charities and Bethany Christian Services have accounted for about 12 percent of the state’s foster care adoptions since 2015.”
Without their ministries’ work, approximately 1,600 desperate children EACH YEAR won’t have loving homes to go to.
Atheist radicals would rather these children suffer than be loved by Christians.
The Michigan Catholic Conference, which is the policy voice for Michigan Catholic Church, quickly responded with defiance in a tweet:
The settlement announced today by the Attorney General @dananessel in the Dumont/Lyon case does nothing to protect the thousands of children in foster care looking for loving homes. As such, it is highly unlikely this is the last chapter of the story.
— MICatholicConference (@MICatholicConf) March 22, 2019
Republican State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey also took a stand against this unprecedented move:
“Nessel’s actions make it clear that she sought the office of attorney general to further her own personal political agenda … The legislature wrote and passed a law regarding adoption practices in Michigan to both protect religious freedom and guard against discrimination.”
Another Republican State Senator Peter MacGregor told LifeSiteNews that this has been “a huge blow to the state’s foster children and will hamper the goal of finding a home for every child that lacks one.”
Dana Nessel has a long history of attacking religious freedom and was at the center of the legal battle in which the Obama administration tried to force Christian businesses and charities to pay for abortion drugs against their consciences.
It’s no surprise she is now attacking religious freedom in her newly elected role as Michigan Attorney General.
Thanks be to God, however, that St. Vincent has gained the legal aid and support of the D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, as previously reported by Christian Life Daily.
They have been representing and defending St. Vincent in the lawsuit filed by the ACLU and are fully on board to defend them against the hostility of their new state Attorney General.
Becket quickly released a statement after learning of Nessel’s declaration:
“The Michigan Attorney General and the ACLU are trying to stop the state from working with faith-based adoption agencies. The result of that will be tragic. Thousands of children will be kept from finding the loving homes they deserve.
“This settlement violates the state law protecting religious adoption agencies. This harms children and families waiting for forever homes and limits access for couples who chose to partner with those agencies.”
Please pray for St. Vincent, Bethany, and all the Christian foster and adoption care ministries doing great work both in Michigan and across the country.
Pray that they stand firm in their faith against the persecution of the Enemy.
And consider contributing what you can to fund their defense in the face of open hostility from an increasingly anti-Christian government.
