What can a breakpoint, a daily look, in an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth?

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Well, a decision that was issued on Tuesday, January the 6th by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

could prove to be one of the most significant religious liberty decisions of all of 2026.

In Union Gospel Mission of Yakima versus Brown,

the court affirmed that religious organizations have a constitutional right to hire according to

their faith, even, and this is important, for ordinary or non-minister positions, and that they

can do this without government interference. It's a moment we're celebrating,

not only for the plaintiff Union Gospel Mission, but for every church and every ministry

organization that takes its faith seriously. Now, at the heart of the case was this question.

Can the government force a Christian organization to hire employees who openly reject its

faith and mission.

Attorneys for the state of Washington said yes.

The Ninth Circuit responded with a resounding no.

Union Gospel Mission, a Christian ministry that serves the homeless and the addicted,

requires its staff to affirm and live by its biblical beliefs, including Christian

teachings about sexuality

and marriage. Under the state of Washington's law against discrimination, this longstanding

policy was under threat. After Washington's Supreme Court narrowed the law's religious

exemption several years ago, Union Gospel Mission feared being punished simply for hiring those who shared its faith.

Thankfully, the Ninth Circuit has now affirmed what many of us already knew.

Religious organizations are more than just employers of labor.

...