The Wyoming Rescue Mission in Casper, Wyoming, sued the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services to protect its right to hire employees who affirm the nonprofit group’s Christian beliefs.

In 2020, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal district court in Wyoming, the mission refused to hire a “self-proclaimed ‘non-Christian’” for a thrift store associate’s job.

The post required that teaching workers in the group’s Discipleship Recovery Program “spread the Gospel and model Christ.”

The nonprofit said the recovery program uses a one-year “Bible-based addiction recovery model” to address the needs of those with alcohol and drug addiction.

The mission claims it was allowed to restrict such jobs to Christian believers, in keeping with its religious mission, and cited exemptions in the state’s Fair Employment Practices Act of 1964 and Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

A potential applicant, who was not named in the mission’s Tuesday’s lawsuit, brought a discrimination charge over the application’s requirements and a 16-month investigation ensued.

While the federal EEOC did not immediately sue the rescue mission, the state workforce agency wanted to force the nonprofit into a conciliation process that would include paying back pay, refrain from religious hiring practices, and submit to the agency’s monitoring its compliance.

The mission refused, citing “its constitutionally protected” employment...

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