Baptist Children's Home Can't Discriminate With Tax Dollars, Groups Say.

In a ground-breaking case that will test the boundaries of tax aid to church-run social services, Americans United and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky have filed suit against public funding of a Baptist children's home in Kentucky.

Americans United and the ACLU charge that the state government may not pay for services at the Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children (KBHC) because the religious group uses the money to advance its religious agenda.

The dispute over state funding of the Baptist agency arose in October 1998, when the KBHC fired family specialist Alicia Pedreira because she is a lesbian. Despite exemplary job performance, Pedreira was terminated because Baptist officials said homosexuality conflicts with Christian beliefs that are central to the agency's mission.

The firing took place even though $13 million of the Baptist home's $19 million budget last year came from the state government. Sources say only 5 percent of the religious agency's funding came from Baptist churches.

The Pedreira v. Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children lawsuit, filed April 17 in federal district court in Louisville, charges that the constitutional separation of church and state forbids government funding of a religious organization that discriminates on the basis of religion and uses taxpayer money to advance a particular religious viewpoint.

Plaintiffs in the case include Pedreira, three members of the clergy and an African-American civil rights activist. A couple whose child was helped by Pedreira at the Kentucky children's home also are plaintiffs. The couple said she was the first counselor to make a difference in their son's life.

Americans United Trustee Paul D. Simmons, a Baptist minister and a clinical professor at the University of Louisville Medical School, represented AU at a press conference announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

"Churches should get their hands out of the public coffers, and government should stop trying to use churches as proxy service providers," Simmons said.

Urging Baptist leaders to remember their historic doctrines, Simmons observed, "Baptists once held the position that churches should reject entangling alliances with government powers.... Accepting government monies means the church must accept public accountability, which is necessary and right."