AFA commends federal judge for protecting First Amendment rights for Christian adoption agency
TUPELO, Miss. — The American Family Association (AFA, www.AFA.net) is applauding U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino in the Northern District of New York for her permanent injunction to stop the New York Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) from closing Christian adoption agency New Hope Family Services in Syracuse. New Hope refuses to place adoptions with unmarried or same-sex couples, drawing the ire of OCFS. Thankfully, the court indicated OCFS was forcing New Hope to go out of business or to endorse conduct against its beliefs in violation of New Hope’s First Amendment protections against compelled speech.
Circuit Judge Reena Raggi commented, “It is plainly a serious step to order an authorized adoption agency such as New Hope — operating without complaint for 50 years, taking no government funding, successfully placing approximately 1,000 children, and with adoptions pending or being supervised — to close all its adoption operations.”
AFA Executive Vice President Ed Vitagliano said the ruling is reason for faith-based charities to cheer, while revealing a deep chasm between world views of family and the Constitution.
“This ruling is good news and demonstrates that there is still some sound, Constitution-based legal reasoning out there in the federal judiciary,” Vitagliano said. “But it also demonstrates that the sexual radicals hate religious liberty. They abhor the freedoms protected by the First Amendment. Christians –– and those of other faiths –– have every right to refuse to submit to the warped and destructive ideas of the sexual revolution.”
For over 40 years, AFA has operated within the mission to inform, equip, and activate individuals to strengthen the moral foundations of American culture and give aid to the church here and abroad in its task of fulfilling the Great Commission. Founded in 1977, AFA has long been on the front lines of America’s culture war. Today, AFA is one of the largest and most effective pro-family organizations in the country, with nearly a million online supporters and approximately 110,000 subscribers to The Stand (formerly known as the AFA Journal), the ministry’s monthly magazine. Find AFA Action Alerts here. In addition, AFA owns and operates nearly 180 radio stations across the country under the American Family Radio banner.
View the media page for AFA here. For more information on American Family Association, visit www.afa.net or follow AFA on Facebook or Twitter @AmericanFamAssc.
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