The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago sued the Chicago Board of Education, claiming religious discrimination after Chicago Public Schools barred its students from the district’s student teaching program.
The district said that Moody’s hiring policies, which require employees to uphold Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality, violate its anti-discrimination rules on religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the legal nonprofit representing Moody, argues the district is unlawfully excluding the college because of its religious mission and seeks a federal court injunction to protect Moody’s students’ access to the program.
An Illinois Christian college recently sued the Chicago Board of Education for alleged religious discrimination, saying that Chicago Public Schools refuses to let the college’s elementary education majors participate in the district’s student teaching program.
District officials have said that students from The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago will be excluded from the program unless the school changes its hiring practices, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the legal nonprofit representing the college, stated in a news release. The district opposes the college’s right to employ like-minded individuals who adhere to the school’s mission and Christian values, according to ADF.
The release states that all employees at Moody must aid the school in “its mission of spreading the gospel and preparing students through biblical, practical, and relevant training.” Employees are also expected to uphold biblical beliefs on marriage and sexuality.
However, Chicago Public Schools argues that the college’s hiring practices violate itsanti-discrimination policy, which states that colleges and universities that participate in the student teaching program cannot “discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, or other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of . . . religion, . . . gender identity/expression, [or] sexual orientation.” The district has continued to exclude Moody students from its teaching program despite the state-approved status of the college’s elementary education degree.
The college previously sought an alternative solution to the problem and asked the school district to amend its policy to provide an exception for religious institutions, according to ADF. Since Chicago Public Schools still refuses to let the college’s students participate, Moody is asking a federal court to declare that the district’s actions are discriminatory and issue an injunction against the district to protect the college’s rights, the complaint shows.
ADF Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus stated in the release that Chicago Public School officials are ignoring the fact that schools in the district need hundreds of teachers and are instead “putting personal agendas ahead of the needs of families.”
“Moody holds its faculty and students to high standards of excellence and is more than qualified to participate in Chicago’s student-teaching program,” Galus added. “By excluding Moody for its religious beliefs, Chicago Public Schools is illegally injecting itself into a religious non-profit’s hiring practices, which the Constitution and state laws expressly forbid.”