The complaint was filed on behalf of the church against Food Bank of the Rockies and its operational hub, Food Bank of Wyoming. The complaint states the Food Bank, a Colorado-based non-profit organization receiving federal funds, has taken sides in a religious dispute between the church and the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s business council, and has wrongfully cut off food supplies to the church’s off-reservation food pantry ministry based on the church’s protected religious expression. Since the Food Bank receives federal USDA funding, federal civil rights and religious protections apply. Liberty Counsel requests the USDA require the Food Bank to reinstate the partnership and resume food deliveries due to these protections. 

The church and its Pastors Jason and Sarah Lucas are facing local protests and controversy on the Wind River Indian Reservation for a July 5 sermon contrasting Christian and Native American religious beliefs. The church is a multi-racial and ethnic church which includes members from the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes. Pastor Sarah Lucas and other Native members of the church discussed the commonly held Christian doctrine that salvation and freedom from sin only come through Jesus Christ rather than Native American rituals, such as the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s Sun Dance ritual. The remarks offended local tribe members who felt the Christian message disrespected their beliefs.

Amid the controversy, the Food Bank terminated its partnership agreement with the church’s food pantry, which serves as a vital food resource for more than 2,000 individuals each month, including people all over Fremont County, as well as members of both tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation.  

On July 29, Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to the Food Bank stating that it is prohibited from discriminating against faith-based organizations in USDA-funded food distribution programs, including the church’s food pantry. In the letter, Liberty Counsel noted that the church’s religious beliefs are protected by the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA), and the Code of Federal Regulations administered by the USDA. 

The letter contended that the Food Bank’s discriminatory decision was in response to objections from third-party tribal officials on the Northern Arapaho Business Council (NABC) as well as “online rage mobs” who disagreed with the church’s protected religious teachings. Specifically, USDA regulations forbid the Food Bank’s religious discrimination against the church for its July 5 religious speech. 

“[The Food Bank] has no authority to condition food distribution to [the church’s] food pantry on [the church] foregoing its religious beliefs, teachings or expression, even if NABC is offended by those beliefs,” wrote Liberty Counsel. “In Both Colorado and Wyoming, it is unlawful for a service provider like [the Food Bank] (a public accommodation) to discriminate against anyone on the basis of ‘religion.’”  

Photo courtesy of Foundations For Nations Church