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Let Catholic adoption agencies be Catholic. We should focus on finding every child a home.

A new bill would allow more faith-based adoption agencies to operate based on their religious beliefs, helping more children find their "forever homes."

Russell Moore
Opinion contributor
Father holds adopted daughter in Jacksonville, Florida, on Dec. 20, 2017.

Of all of the issues our nation faces today, adoption should be one of the least controversial. People of all political persuasions can agree it is very important to see children in need of loving parents placed in a home that will cherish them and allow them to flourish as individuals. Unfortunately, the issue is not so simple these days.

Recently, several states have introduced laws that would limit the ability of faith-based organizations to provide child welfare services, such as adoption and foster care. In Illinois, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., for example, faith-based child welfare providers have faced loss of funding, denial of contracts and other forms of discrimination for operating according to their religiously informed convictions. This is unacceptable, not only from a religious liberty perspective, but also for the impact it will have on children in need of adoption and related services.

Put politics aside, think about the children

With the current state of adoption and foster care in our nation today, we need as many people working to facilitate these services as possible. Instead, what I am seeing is a concerted effort to shut down service providers, because they hold disfavored religious views. Whenever a service provider is forced to close their doors due to their religious convictions, a heavier burden is placed on an already overtaxed system. We need to put the politics aside and think about what is best for the thousands of children awaiting adoption. The more providers we have, the more capacity we have to get these children into their “forever homes.”

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Let’s be clear: the crux of the matter is that many religious organizations choose to place children only in families with a husband and a wife. This position is not arbitrary: these organizations are seeking to operate in a manner consistent with their deeply held religious convictions. While some interpret these organizations to be seeking a license to discriminate, I think that Catholic adoption agencies, for example, are just trying to be, well, Catholic. Similarly, the Baptist adoption agency licensed by the state is simply asking for the right to be consistent in their theological beliefs as they go about the important work of serving children and families.

New bill protects faith-based agencies

The Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act was recently added as an amendment to a House appropriations bill by Rep. Robert Aderholt and successfully voted out of committee. This measure seeks to ensure that there is a broad spectrum of child welfare service providers, that birth moms have a range of choice when considering adoption and ultimately, that there are as many forever homes for waiting children as possible.

In short, the bill would prevent the government from appointing itself as an evaluator of what constitutes acceptable theology — something that the state is woefully unequipped to do. Contrary to recent headlines, the bill does not at all attempt to adjudicate whether or not a gay or lesbian couple is able to provide a loving home to a child, nor does it seek to speak to the legitimacy of same-sex marriage. The bill does not inhibit LGBTQ adoption efforts nor does it discriminate against LGBTQ couples.

The bill works to ensure that Catholics can be Catholic and Baptists can be Baptist, while being active participants within civil society. As Americans, we need to come together, put aside the politics and work to make sure as many children as possible are able to find the loving home every child deserves.

Russell Moore is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Follow him on Twitter: @drmoore.

 

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