Last week both houses of
the Michigan legislature passed a bill, and then signed into law by Gov. Rick
Snyder, allowing faith-based adoption agencies to decline cases that violate
their religious beliefs … such as gay adoptions. This, of course, is a move to protect the
religious freedom of these adoption agencies.
Gary Glenn, a state
representative and head of the American Family Association of Michigan,
explained the purpose to OneNewsNow
saying, “We have many faith-based adoption agencies, such as Lutheran Community
Services and Catholic Charities, that as a matter of religious conviction refer
children for adoption only by married mothers and fathers because these
agencies believe that’s what’s in the best interest of the child.” Glenn says it prohibits the state from
violating constitutional protections for religious freedom, “making sure they
don’t engage in content discrimination by putting out a request for proposals
or contracts to provide adoption referral services and then turning around and
telling some subset of adoption referral agencies that they can’t contract with
the state or local government because of their religious convictions.”
Critics say the new law
amounts to government-sanctioned discrimination against same-sex couples. But the governor says it ensures that as many
organizations as possible are involved in helping kids be adopted. Gov. Snyder said, “This is about making sure
we get the largest number of kids in forever families. The more opportunities and organizations we
have that are doing a good job of placing people in loving families, isn’t that
better for all of us?”
The law does require
adoption agencies with religious objections to refer applicants to another
agency or to a state website listing other providers.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
No comments:
Post a Comment