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Another great victory for religious liberties! This concerns faith-based adoption agencies like Miracle Hill Ministries right here in South Carolina. It’s an issue I’ve written about several times over the years.

To refresh your memory, Miracle Hill is a Christian ministry. They specialize in placing foster children with Christian parents, in a Christian environment. In remaining true to their beliefs, they’ve faced hardships on multiple fronts: They’ve been criticized over the fact they refer people of different faiths (or no faith at all) to other foster agencies. They’ve put up with lawsuits and media headlines, all trying to misrepresent and malign them.

And organizations like Miracle Hill were targeted by President Barack Obama when he so cruelly rolled back federal assistance to faith-based foster agencies. In response, Gov. McMaster signed an executive order back in 2018 implementing policies that prohibited the SC Dept. of Social Services from discriminating against faith-based agencies here in South Carolina. And to nobody’s surprise, lawsuits were filed against the Governor’s policies.

Well, last week a federal judge dismissed two of those lawsuits, reaffirming that faith-based organizations (like Miracle Hill) have a First Amendment right to practice their faith. And furthermore, the fact that government may provide some type of support for those agencies is not tantamount to the government establishing an official religion.

Thank GOD for our First Amendment rights. More than ever, our nation needs to protect religious freedoms. It is wrong for the government to force any faith-based organization to violate its beliefs while serving the public, especially in cases where suitable alternatives are readily available.