Case Study: Matthew is planning to open a manufacturing facility. He is considering a “Christian-only” hiring policy whereby he would determine to hire only professing, evangelical Christians to work in the facility. He asks you for your advice on the following questions:
1. Would such a policy be legal? If so, under what terms and what might the restrictions be?
2. From a Great Commission perspective, would this policy be advisable?
3. How would your answers change, if at all, if they planned to open a Christian school rather than a manufacturing facility? Matthew is planning to open a manufacturing facility and is considering a “Christian-only” hiring policy. The only way that this policy would be legal is if the manufacturing facility was considered to be a non-profit organization. A non-profit organization is an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals rather than distributing them as profit or dividends. The extent to which a non-profit organization can generate surplus revenues may be constrained or use of surplus revenues may be restricted. If this manufacturing facility was deemed to be a non-profit organization, then the organization would be exempt from the Civil Rights Act and would be able to implement their “Christian-only” hiring policy without facing charges down the road of discrimination. Due to the fact that a manufacturing facility would be unable to be classified as a non-profit organization because their purpose is usually to distribute its products for profit, then my advice would be that this policy would not be advisable for Matthew to use a “Christian-only” hiring policy. Using this policy would cause people to be discriminated against due to religious preference, and this is clearly illegal in the United States. If Matthew was planning to open a Christian school rather than a manufacturing facility, my answer would still be that it is illegal to discriminate in a for-profit