A Christian college is suing Chicago over its decision to block the college’s students from participating in its student-teacher program unless the college promises to hire people of different religions or none at all. 

The Moody Bible Institute, which is represented by the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a federal lawsuit against the Chicago Board of Education this week. The Christian college notes that it is “strategically located in downtown Chicago and offers many in-person degree programs, including degrees in elementary education.”

While the city is “unable to fill hundreds of open teacher positions,” it will not let Moody participate in its student-teacher program because the school only hires Christian employees.

A senior counsel for ADF, Jeremiah Galus, said in a statement, “Moody holds its faculty and students to high standards of excellence and is more than qualified to participate in Chicago’s student-teaching program. By excluding Moody for its religious beliefs, Chicago Public Schools is illegally injecting itself into a religious non-profit’s hiring practices, which the Constitution and state laws expressly forbid.”

Moody’s lawsuit says the college “strives to be a community of caring Christians dedicated to helping each other grow toward Christian maturity” and “requires that “each employee has committed his or her life to Jesus Christ and Christian service.”

It also says the Illinois State Board of Education approved the college’s elementary education program, which it applied for because it would be “beneficial to the school and increase

employment opportunities for graduates” by allowing them to “pursue careers in public schools as well as private schools that require a Professional Education License.” 

The program requires its students to “complete at least 10 hours of classroom observation in a public-school setting and at least 10 hours in a Christian-school setting, totaling 20 hours.”

The state’s approval opened the door for Moody’s students to participate in Chicago’s student-teacher program, and according to the lawsuit, the state board of education “highlighted the importance of Moody participating in Chicago Public Schools’ student-teaching

Program.”

However, Chicago has blocked Moody from participating in its Pre-Service Teaching Program, which is “designed” to train “outstanding pre-service teachers by offering a unique urban teaching experience, support and guidance.”

The city requires Moody to sign two agreements stating that it will “fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, or other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, age, or disability.”

Moody insists it has the right to only hire employees who share its faith because it is a religious organization. But, it says Chicago declined to provide an exception to its requirements because it said it cannot “accommodate language that permits discrimination.”

The lawsuit alleges that Chicago does not uniformly enforce its laws as it said, “Chicago Public Schools allows certain hiring preferences based on protected classes, demonstrating that it selectively pursues its interests in enforcing its employment nondiscrimination policy.”

“For example, Chicago Public Schools has implemented an ‘Equity

Framework’ that promotes ‘set[ting] targets for hiring and retaining Black, Brown and Indigenous staff,” the complaint adds.

The lawsuit alleges that the decision to block Moody from participating in the student-teacher program violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

It asks a judge to issue a permanent injunction to prevent Chicago from blocking Moody from the student-teacher program. 

The Chicago Board of Education did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.