Rhetoric Race and Religion
When the humanitarian and disaster relief giant World Vision first announced its new short-lived, semi-inclusive policy permitting the hiring of people in legal same-sex marriages, the evangelical outcry was immense, with many questioning whether they should withdraw their donations from the iconic evangelical institution. Presumably those objecting are less reticent now that World Vision has reverted to the old policy of refusing to hire LGBT people at all.
But its not just World Vision’s donors who contribute to its substantial coffers (in 2012, it brought in more than $1 billion in contributions). World Vision is also a big recipient of federal faith-based funding, which means that taxpayers also are footing the bill for an organization that discriminates based on religion and religious beliefs. In fiscal year 2013, according to a federal government database, World Vision took in nearly $70 million in federal funding.
The reason World Vision gets away with this is rooted in a federal statute familiar to anyone who followed this week’s Supreme Court arguments in the Hobby Lobby case: the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
In the Hobby Lobby context, civil rights advocates have expressed concern that a high court ruling for Hobby Lobby could open the door for further discriminatory rules and practices, such as the state “religious freedom” bills that would permit discrimination based on sexual orientation and other factors in public accommodations.
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