[Vision2020] Fair Housing Group Sues Boise Rescue Mission --

[Andreas Schou]

Finally. They've been warned for years that making Christian services
a precondition to receiving housing was not compatible with federal
funding, and has been under court order not to keep up their religious
discrimination for years ... and the chickens are finally coming home
to roost. Unfortunately, it's the homeless that are going to end up
paying for BRM's stubborn refusal to follow the law and their granting
agency's stubborn refusal to follow the Constitution.

http://spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp?ID=244862&page=all

BOISE – The Intermountain Fair Housing Council is suing the Boise
Rescue Mission in federal court, claiming the mission's shelters
committed religious discrimination by coercing residents into taking
part in Christian services.

In the recently filed lawsuit, the housing council contends the Boise
Rescue Mission violated the federal Fair Housing Act by discriminating
against non-Christian residents at its City Light Home for Women and
Children, its Front Street Men's Mission homeless shelter and its
River of Life Rescue Mission homeless shelter.

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Rev. Bill Roscoe, the executive director of the Boise Rescue Mission,
said the allegations were unfounded and that he expected the case to
be dismissed.

"The fact of the matter is, two years ago these same folks filed the
same exact charges against us with the (U.S. Department of) Housing
and Urban Development," Roscoe said. "HUD investigated those
complaints thoroughly, interviewed us, took depositions and in the end
they dismissed every one of those allegations as being unfounded."

According to the lawsuit, Janene Cowles lived at City Light in 2006 to
take part in a court-ordered residential substance abuse treatment
program. Cowles, who is joining in the lawsuit, claims she was
required to participate in religious activities including praying,
Bible recitation and the "laying on of hands," and that she was
regularly required to "cast out demons" in the facility using oil and
holy water.

When Cowles asked to be transferred to a nonreligious program, Sheryl
Keller, the women's ministry director at City Light, reportedly told
her that because she had not " 'opened her heart' to Christianity her
only option was to go back to jail," according to the lawsuit.

Richard Chinn, who is also joining the suit, contends he was
discriminated against while he stayed at the River of Life and Front
Street shelters. During one stay at Front Street, he alleged he was
forced to participate in evangelical Christian services in order to
get shelter and meals. Staff members made derogatory comments about
Chinn's own Mormon faith, he contends. He also alleged shelter workers
gave better treatment to residents who participated in the religious
programs.

It's not the first time the rescue mission has faced legal action over
its religious practices. In 2006, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill
ordered that the mission stop asking clients to explain why they do
not want to attend prayer meetings before they are fed or sheltered.
The questions amounted to a subtle form of coercion, Winmill said at
the time.

Roscoe said shelter leaders have always been upfront about their beliefs.

"We're overtly Christian and we don't make any secret about that. We
try to represent the Gospel to people in a tangible way," Roscoe said.
"We've done that for 50 years and I don't understand why folks think
we ought not to do that."