Indeed, COVID-19 Situation, and Discrimination Rages On

We usually post the letter we send out to our supporters each month on our website without additional comment. But for April, our letter needs an introduction before you read it. It’s about a very obvious instance of intolerance and discrimination against those of us who proclaim the Christian faith—in this instance against Answers in Genesis.

For instance, some states allowed liquor stores, smoke shops, and abortion clinics to be open, but wouldn’t allow churches to even have drive-in services.

Even during this COVID-19 situation (that is becoming more and more political), we’ve seen instances of obvious discrimination against Christianity. For instance, some states allowed liquor stores, smoke shops, and abortion clinics to be open, but wouldn’t allow churches to even have drive-in services. The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, during a press conference about the COVID-19 pandemic, made an obvious hit at Christianity when he said, “the number is down because we brought the number down . . . God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that.” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened to close down houses of worship permanently if they did not abide by his lockdown measures.

Such hostility to Christianity has been growing in this nation once known as the “land of the free.”

Our April letter you are about to read details an instance of obvious intolerance of and discrimination against the ministry of Answers in Genesis by the company Indeed.com. Organizations of all kinds post job vacancies on this site. But Answers in Genesis has been banned because of our preferential hiring as a Christian organization. Yet we have documented how other organizations (including Moslem groups) have preferential hiring yet are allowed to post jobs on Indeed.com. And since writing the letter, a new example from the Indeed.com website is of a job opening posted in Indeed.com by Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood (the largest abortion provided in the United States) lists the requirements for a Field Manager position this way:

Now perhaps, Indeed.com can rationalize the disparate treatment of AiG by pointing out that AiG discriminates on the basis of religion while Planned Parenthood does not.

Now perhaps, Indeed.com can rationalize the disparate treatment of AiG by pointing out that AiG discriminates on the basis of religion while Planned Parenthood does not. But the point is both have preferential hiring tied to philosophical and moral views.

As you read this letter you will also see that, at the time we printed it, AiG had many job openings that sadly have had to be shelved because of the coronavirus situation. Pray that we will be able to open our attractions soon so our temporarily laid-off staff can be reemployed, and so we can reopen these unfilled positions to continue impacting millions of people.

But I wanted you to take note of the obvious discrimination Christian groups like AiG are experiencing more and more in this culture. For instance, we’ve all heard of battles Christian groups have had with the social media giants—and AiG has similar ongoing battles.

I trust the following letter stirs you to prayer and to support AiG in any way you can as we boldly and unashamedly proclaim God’s Word and the gospel to the world.

Ken Ham

Indeed.com: Its Discrimination Against Answers in Genesis

This month, I decided to include a title for my letter to you. The title above refers to an interesting ongoing saga that I will relate in a moment, and it reflects our changing culture. It’s actually a warning of things to come in our society!

“Indeed.com: Its Discrimination and Intolerance”

Actually, let me reword that slightly:

“Indeed.com: Its Christian Discrimination and Intolerance”

Oh, let me reword that again:

“Indeed.com: Its Discrimination and Intolerance Against Answers in Genesis”

Many of you may have heard of the company Indeed. Indeed.com is a well-known internet site (perhaps you’ve seen their TV commercials) for people looking for jobs. Companies, churches, and ministries use Indeed to list their job openings. Over the years, Answers in Genesis has often used Indeed to post our many job openings.

Now we’ve been banned!

But now we’ve been banned! Let me explain and give you some background.

First, Indeed describes itself as the number one external source of hire. It offers free job postings to employers and free job searches to applicants. They also pull job postings from other websites and post them.

Indeed’s main goal, aside from making money (obviously), is to connect employers to employees. It’s owned by a Japanese company, Recruit Co. Ltd, and co-publishes Simply Hired, which Recruit also owns. Indeed also hosts the resumes of potential employees.

Well, recently, we received this stunning notice from Indeed:

After reviewing your jobs, Indeed has made the decision to no longer allow Answers In Genesis' opportunities on our site due to the religious verbiage within your job descriptions. While we do understand the value behind your mission, Indeed believes that job seekers should be considered based on factors directly related to their ability to successfully perform a job.

You can read more about this in our General Job Posting Policies. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes.

Not the First Time!

Actually, we have been denied twice by Indeed, in 2017 and 2018. However, AiG’s appeals through our attorneys were successful, and we were reinstated. Indeed had stated in the past:

2018: This client has verbiage in their job postings that can lead to religious discrimination. We do not allow religious discrimination on Indeed unless it is a clergy position, all of these jobs are non-clerical staff jobs. If this client would like visibility on Indeed they will need to remove any verbiage that can lead to discrimination.

2017: Most of the roles do not appear to be religious in nature, however, all of the positions require faith-based agreements – salvation testimony, creation belief statement, and a confirmation of agreement with the company’s statement of faith.

In addition, several of the positions have more explicit religious requirements. For example, the “Public Safety Officer” positions all have an additional requirement of “Maintains a personal relationship with Jesus Christ” and “Regular attendance at a local Bible-believing church.” Is the client willing to remove the religious requirements from their jobs?

This year, we have been told that our denial to use Indeed will not be revoked.

This year, we have been told that our denial to use Indeed will not be revoked. In their final denial email, Indeed quotes from its Discrimination Policy, as posted on its website:

Indeed believes that jobs seekers should be considered based on factors directly related to their ability to successfully perform a job. Job seekers should not be excluded or dismissed from consideration based on characteristics that do not affect their job performance nor the success of the hiring party. Indeed will remove jobs that violate these standards.

Very interesting. So, is this policy being consistently applied by Indeed? I’ll let you decide for yourself as I list current postings (current at the time of writing this letter) from other groups, directly from Indeed’s website:

New Dimensions Community Services
Requires role modeling Islamic values to students and teaching the Quran

Muslim Association of Bollingbrook
Requires being a Muslim helping students memorize the Quran

Laredo Technical Services Inc.
Requires specifically being a Sunni Muslim with the ability to recite the Quran

American Atheists
Requires supporting the American Atheists mission

Bethany Christian Services
Requires agreement to Statement of Faith

Furqaan Academy Corporate
Muslim school association, requires being a committed Muslim

Secular Coalition for America
Requires “Passion for strong, secular government”

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Requires being a disciple of Christ, growing in the Lord

Asbury University
Requires committed Christian faith and adherence to theology of university

Now, Indeed claims that “job seekers should be considered based on factors directly related to their ability to successfully perform a job.” So I suspect they would say you don’t need to adhere to a statement of faith to work in housekeeping, horticulture, plumbing, etc. But AiG requires all staff to behave as Christians and exhibit the fruits of the Spirit in whatever task they do. And you can’t do that unless you are a true Christian.

Selective Intolerance

The reality is that Indeed’s decision reflects the increasing intolerance happening in our culture not just against Christianity, but against what are also deemed conservative beliefs. We see it happening as people and organizations are being blocked or terminated entirely from social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.).

In fact, we’ve had some of our own battles with social media with certain posts being blocked or deleted because content was considered inappropriate or “hate speech.” These days, if one believes the Christian teaching that marriage is one man and one woman, that’s considered hate speech in many places. If you believe abortion is sin and is the murder of a human being, then you’re considered to be a misogynist. And so it goes on.

Now, some of you will be asking about AiG possibly taking legal action in this matter with Indeed. Certainly we’ve had our attorneys involved, and we’ve had communication with Indeed’s legal department. But such legal matters usually end up being complicated and can involve interpretations of the law (and other issues).

Also, legal battles usually take considerable time, sometimes years to be resolved, and the legal costs add up greatly. We do continue to work through our legal counsel, including using Christian attorneys dedicated to First Amendment issues.

But this action by Indeed should be a warning to us all.

But this action by Indeed should be a warning to us all. I believe we will increasingly be seeing such discrimination and intolerance leveled at high-profile Christian organizations—particularly those that publicly stand against the LGBTQ movement (against gay “marriage” and transgenderism) and abortion.

So what do we do? We’ve had many of our job positions filled after people saw our job postings on Indeed.com. Well, we’re asking you, our supporter, to help us fill this new void. Please help us get the word out in regard to positions available at AiG—a Christian organization that is at the front lines of the spiritual battle raging around us.

Not Unexpected

Yes, God’s Word warns us that, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33) and that “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

We shouldn’t be surprised at such opposition from the world. In fact, we should expect it. Actually, if we’re not getting opposition (and we do get a lot of it!), we should be asking ourselves why we’re not!

At Answers in Genesis, we will not shy away from doing what we need to do, so we can “contend for the faith” (Jude 3), knowing that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

I must admit, though: sometimes we do get weary in the battle. It would be easy to get discouraged at times. And we have to learn to live with false information being spread about us by the world—even by church leaders and others claiming to be Christians.

But, this has been happening in our Bible-affirming ministry for over 40 years, ever since my days in Australia. And it will continue to happen because we stand on the authority of the Word of God without compromise. We will boldly continue to impact both church and culture with what God has called us to do.

I think of the verse: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

From time to time, I love sharing numerous testimonies with our staff that we receive from people, including those who were saved as a result of God using AiG. For our ministry, that’s what it’s all about.

Please support the overall creation/gospel ministry of Answers in Genesis this month. Your gift will help proclaim life-changing biblical truths to this country and around the world. What an encouragement to our staff your ongoing partnership would be.

Thank you for being a part of our AiG family. We couldn’t be as effective as we are without your prayers and financial support—and your encouraging feedback.