This question is regarding whether private. religious- or faith-based adoption or fostering agencies should be required to adopt or foster children into couples or families whose values are very different, or diametrically opposed, to the values and beliefs of the agency, if the agency is receiving state funds,
It is NOT about discrimination against Jews or Catholics or gay couples unilaterally across the state if South Carolina, as the question appears to imply.
That is a great debate across the nation right now. Its kind of like asking if schools should be allowed to teach religion if they accept state-sponsored vouchers and scholarships. The involvement of state money certainly makes it precarious. When I worked in an Afterschool Activities program which was part of the outreach of a fairly liberal Disciples of Christ church, even we couldn’t accept any state money or grants from individual families, lest we should have to remove every religious emblem and every religious book or bible from the building. As a result, we could only provide a much needed service to families with their own money to pay, or people with grants or monies from the church itself.
Children from low income families who needed State financial assistance could not be a part of our program, even if they did not object to the presence of a Bible or a logo with a Communion cup on a wall in a building.
If the Miracle Hill (or whatever) agency doesn’t like having to adopt or foster its children out to non-Christians, the only option seems to be to shut down and let the secular, non-religious State of SC take on this responsibility. After all, they can provide a service but not a ministry, or meeting the needs it perceived the children and families to have, I presume there is a Christian counseling agency related to this foster service.
So, let the State of South Carolina take in all those foster children. That’s what taxes are for.
In any case, those who do not meet the ethos of the adoption agency certainly have options to adopt or foster children from state- or other agencies, such as Catholic and Jewish agencies. Not sure that there are any Gay or LGBT agencies that adopt children, but the State agencies might be an option.
Even State agencies will not often adopt children to single parents, usually. A 25 year old man cannot adopt a 14 year old girl. Darn it.
Probably, Miracle Hill will cease operations if it has to comply because Evangelical Christianity is part of its core purpose, and it needs state funds to operate.