Tennessee Jewish couple’s religious discrimination case clears hurdle

Contributed photo / Knox County couple Elizabeth, left, and Gabriel Rutan-Ram allege a publicly funded Christian child-placement agency refused to serve them because they are Jewish — and that a new Tennessee law permitting the policy violates their constitutional rights. Contributed photo / Knox County couple Elizabeth, left, and Gabriel Rutan-Ram allege a publicly funded Christian child-placement agency refused to serve them because they are Jewish — and that a new Tennessee law permitting the policy violates their constitutional rights.

By Andrew Schwartz May 20, 2024 3 min read

A Jewish couple’s religious discrimination lawsuit against a Tennessee foster agency cleared a hurdle last week as the state’s highest court declined to intervene and stop the case from proceeding to trial.

The Knox County couple, Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram, said a state-funded Christian foster home declined to serve them because they were not Christian. Their resulting lawsuit — in which different visions of religious freedom face off — has followed a yearslong path through the state legal system.

The action was filed in January 2022 with the help of the activist group Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The complaint argued the Holston United Methodist Home for Children in Greeneville, Tennessee, declined to offer the Jewish couple training because they did not share its Christian beliefs. The lawsuit argued the agency should lose its contract with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.