Legal team tackles campaign discriminating against Christian seniors
The American Center for Law and Justice has taken on a wide range of religious and civil rights fights over the last year and one of those recent disputes was a decision by a senior housing center to ban Bible studies from common areas that otherwise are used for games, knitting clubs, book clubs and the like.
Then a complaint arose about another senior housing center doing what essentially was the same thing.
Then a senior housing facility banned religious decorations, even while allowing other decorations.
Then another banned any advertising in a common area for any religious event, even though other events were advertised.
Then yet another senior housing center banned religious literature – even though it allowed individuals to share various other pamphlets, flyers and information.
The legal team now has confirmed that 10 times in just the last year it has responded to violations by senior housing centers of the Fair Housing Act, which bans discrimination based on religion. Those attacks have been across eight different states.
Now it is asking the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to issue guidance that would end the campaign.
A report from the prominent legal team explained, “We’ve successfully defended numerous Christians in senior living centers but are concerned that more is at issue, so we just sent demand letters to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice. These letters tackle the widespread religious discrimination by senior living complexes since the beginning of 2023.”
It continued, “We’re requesting that the DOJ and HUD issue written legal guidance to senior living centers (much like the Department of Education issues to schools) regarding their legal obligation to uphold religious liberty. We specifically request that they address the bans on Bible studies and that they implement proper enforcement mechanisms to ensure that the law is followed.”
It noted the apparent coordination of the attacks on religious faith in housing centers.
“The reasons given for the religious discrimination in the situations we addressed were eerily similar. Most complexes discriminated on the basis of religion in order to be supposedly ‘neutral’ or ‘inclusive.’ (Yes, they oxymoronically claim that banning Bible studies would promote being ‘inclusive.’) However, absolutely nothing in the FHA allows complexes to discriminate or prevent religious activity in the name of neutrality.”
The team said it is demanding that the federal agencies “take action to protect religious liberty and stop senior centers from banning Bible studies. Such rampant unconstitutional targeting of Christian seniors must end now.”
Federal law allows HUD to administer the FHA, and that law “has prohibited religious discrimination since its inception.”
Specifically, the law states discrimination is not allowed against any person “in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith, because of . . . religion. . . ”
It said, “The reach of the statute encompasses claims regarding services or facilities perceived to be wanting after the owner or tenant has acquired possession of the dwelling.”
And, the legal team confirmed, the ban on religious discrimination covers “both overt discrimination against members of a particular religion as well as less direct actions” such as inconsistent application of the rules.
Issuing such guidance often is part of the work of a federal agency, the ACLJ reported.
“In May 2023, the Department of Education released its ‘Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools.’ Notably, these guidance materials also provide information in a way that is clearer than just reading the underlying federal laws.”
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