Derek L. Gaubatz writes at the Federalist Society:
Many religious organizations, as a sincere exercise of their religious faith, engage in religious preferences when hiring those who serve in their organizations. Such religious preferences are designed to ensure that a religious organization has in place personnel who affirm and practice the religious beliefs of that organization. Such religious preferences also maintain the religious autonomy of that organization by preventing situations in which that organization is compelled to hire those who do not share the core beliefs of that organization (e.g., a Jewish charity doesn’t have to hire Christians or Muslims).
The Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently debating whether to re-interpret federal law so as to allow discrimination, when awarding federal grants, against faith-based organizations who engage in such religious hiring preferences. The outcome of this debate will affect the ability of faith-based providers who engage in religious hiring preferences to compete with secular and other faith-based organizations for federal social service grants.
