(AgapePress) - A federal judge has ruled that Wisconsin's program allowing state employees to donate part of their paychecks to charity may not exclude religious charities on grounds that the groups use religion as a basis for employment or membership on their governing boards.

Under Wisconsin's State Employees Combined Campaign, employees of the state are allowed to voluntarily authorize payroll deductions for charitable purposes. But when state officials told several faith-based organizations -- the Christian Legal Society among them -- that they could not take part in the program because of their membership requirements, the Association of Faith-Based Organizations (AFBO) challenged the restriction, alleging those groups were wrongly left off the list of potential recipients under a rule requiring them to adopt an anti-discrimination policy. Federal Judge John Shabaz agreed on Friday that the state policy amounted to unconstitutional religious discrimination.

The AFBO was represented in the lawsuit by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and Christian Legal Society (CLS). Casey Mattox, litigation counsel for the CLS's Center for Law and Religious Freedom, says the decision is a major victory for religious freedom.

"It's a very big thing because this has been an increasing strategy by some on the left that, having been told that they can't just exclude religious organizations from things altogether, [have] now turned to these anti-discrimination policies ...," says Mattox. In taking that tact, the attorney says, those decision-makers are essentially telling faith-based groups "the reason you're being excluded isn't because you're religious; it's because you're discriminatory."

The CLS attorney is confident the federal court's ruling is solid. "What it means is that state employees in Wisconsin will be able to make their own decision about whether they contribute to CLS and other religious organizations instead of state bureaucrats making that decision for them," he says. "This decision reaffirms that a religious organization's faith requirements for its employees and board members is protected under the U.S. Constitution."

AFBO is an association of non-profit religious charities who defend the constitutional freedom of religious groups to staff and select members on a Christian basis. It consists of social service providers, educational institutions, membership associations, and advocacy and outreach organizations.

Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.

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