CINCINNATI (ABP) -- The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined Dec. 16 to review the August ruling of a three-judge panel allowing a case challenging taxpayer funding of a Baptist children's home to move forward.

Sunrise Children's Services, formerly known as Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, planned to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

A lawsuit filed originally in 2000 claims the ministry is using taxpayer funds unconstitutionally to indoctrinate children who are wards of the state with religion.

Plaintiffs include Alice Pedreira, a former case worker at the Baptist home who was fired in 1998 after her employers discovered she was a lesbian, and Paul Simmons, a former professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and chairman of the board of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

A district court dismissed the case last year, citing a Supreme Court ruling limiting the rights of taxpayers to sue over taxpayer funding of religious organizations. In August a three-judge panel of the appellate court disagreed with the lower court's interpretation and said the question of whether $12 million in annual state funding for the home violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause could move forward.

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This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

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