A nonprofit Christian youth-mentoring ministry based in Medford is suing the Oregon Department of Education after the agency stripped it of grant funding because the ministry prefers to hire employees and volunteers that share the same faith.

On Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke set May deadlines for parties to respond to Youth 71Five Ministries’ motion for the court to order the department to restore over $400,000 in lost grant funding. Clarke also scheduled oral arguments, which will include the department’s likely filing for a motion to dismiss the case. 

The ministry filed a lawsuit March 4 in U.S. District Court in Medford after learning in late 2023 that the department would not fund the ministry for the 2023-25 grant cycle because it requires employees and volunteers to sign a “statement of faith.” Youth 71Five Ministries has approximately 30 employees and over 100 volunteers, according to the complaint.

The department, the complaint said, informed the ministry in July 2023 that it would receive two, two-year grants totaling $340,000, as well as an additional $70,000 as a subgrantee to another grant recipient.

But in October 2023 a department official “unexpectedly” emailed the ministry Executive Director Bud Amundsen to inform him that the agency will “not proceed with an agreement” because of the nonprofit’s hiring practices, the complaint said.

The department explained that, because Youth 71Five Ministries requires employees and volunteers to sign a statement of faith, it does not align with lawful hiring practices and is ineligible for grant funding, according to the complaint.

Youth 71Five Ministries admitted in the complaint that it learned of the department’s rule while filling out the 2023-25 grant applications, and ministry officials decided to check the box certifying it does not discriminate in its hiring practices.

Ministry officials checked the box because they believed it was the only way to receive the grant funding, and the organization maintains it does not discriminate, the complaint said.

The department’s rule amounts to religious discrimination, giving Youth 71Five Ministries grounds for relief, the ministry said in its complaint. 

Youth 71Five Ministries names as defendants Charlene Williams, director of the state Department of Education; Brian Detman, director of the department’s Youth Development Division; and Cord Bueker Jr., Detman’s deputy.

The ministry asks Clarke not only to declare the department’s rule unconstitutional but to restore the 2023-25 grant cycle funding. It also asks the judge to prohibit the department from requiring the ministry to agree to the rule, or anything similar, as a condition to receive grant funding.

In addition, the ministry would like Clarke to prevent the department from terminating or refusing to enter into any agreements with the nonprofit.

A spokesperson with the Oregon Department of Justice, the agency representing the state education department, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nathan Pogue, the lead attorney for Youth 71Five Ministries, said he had no comment when reached by phone and referred the Rogue Valley Times to attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group also representing 71Five Ministries.

Jeremiah Galus, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom issued a prepared statement, saying, “Simply being religious shouldn’t disqualify an organization from a program that exists to help those in need.”

“71Five Ministries just wants to continue helping at-risk youths while remaining a Christian ministry,” Galus said. “By stripping 71Five of its funding, Oregon is giving religious ministries an impossible choice: hire those who reject your beliefs to receive funding that everyone else can access or go without the funding.”

Galus said his organization is urging the court to follow U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

“Such organizations cannot be forced to give up their religion to participate in generally available government programs,” Galus said.