Moody Bible Institute Wins Religious Freedom Case for Student Teachers
The Chicago Board of Education settled a lawsuit with the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago that allows student teachers from Moody to train in the city’s public schools.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) had excluded Moody’s elementary education students from its student teaching program unless the college agreed to hire employees who disagreed with the school’s biblical views on sex, sexuality and marriage.
The school district asked Moody to sign a “Vendor Agreement” and a “Student Teaching Internship Agreement” saying the college would not discriminate in hiring on the basis of “gender identity/expression (or) sexual orientation.”
This would have violated the college’s religious beliefs, which include that God made humans in His image male and female, marriage is between a husband and wife, and sexual activity outside of marriage is prohibited.
Attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), who had filed the lawsuit on Moody’s behalf in November 2025, announced the settlement in a press statement, with ADF Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus explaining the importance of the victory:
The lawsuit explained that the Christian college hires people who agree with and live by its religious beliefs. It stated that the Illinois State Board of Education had approved the school’s teacher preparation program in January 2024, so graduates could sit for the state’s teaching licensure exam.
It’s not like CPS can afford to turn away good teachers.
The Illinois Policy Institute reported at the start of the 2025-2026 school year that Chicago’s schools are failing to educate students:
Moody tried to work with the Chicago Board of Education, asking it to accommodate the school’s religious beliefs, since “the United States Constitution and federal, state, and local laws all permit and protect Moody’s employment practices.”
The suit also pointed out that the district seemed to single out Moody and did not enforce its policies evenhandedly:
ADF attorneys argued that such favoritism toward other religious schools violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
Public government programs cannot discriminate against participants because of their religion, the suit explained, pointing to the 2022 U.S. Supreme court decision Carson v. Makin, a case from Maine where the state created a tuition assistance program for families to send their children to private schools, prohibiting the money from being used at religious schools.
The court ruled that this violated the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.
Similarly, CPS cannot exclude Christian students from participating in the teaching program because of their or their college’s religion.
As a result of the settlement, ADF said that the school district “modified its Student Teacher Internship Agreement” and “has now listed Moody as an approved university partner on its website.” The Board also agreed to pay $100,00 in attorney’s fees.
Moody Provost Dr. Tim Sisk applauded the agreement, saying:
The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago was founded in 1886 by evangelist Dwight L. Moody as a training center “where men and women could be transformed by the clear, practical teaching of God’s Word.”
In addition to its Chicago undergraduate campus, the college started a seminary in Chicago with a satellite campus in Plymouth, Michigan, and it operates Moody Aviation, in Spokane, Washington.
The Daily Citizen is grateful for this important victory.
Related articles and resources:
Coach Joe Kennedy Finally Rehired After Religious Liberty Win at Supreme Court
Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Attacking Faith-based Schools
Religious Liberty Commission Launches, Aims to Root Out Anti-Christian Bias
State Can’t Discriminate Against Religion in Tuition Assistance Program, Supreme Court Rules
Trump Admin Issues New Guidance to Protect Workplace Religious Expression
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