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Youth pastor forced to choose church or troubled youth

A Florida youth pastor, who doubles as a youth counselor for a Tampa-area juvenile offender program, has filed suit against the agency for firing him.

The youth pastor was fired because he brought some of the teens to his church for church-sponsored activities and worship services. Bay Area Youth Services (BAYS), where Dennis Hughes was employed, changed one of its policies to ban offenders in its program from attending religious activities while Hughes was present. The change in policy came after a public community center facility objected to his inclusion of religious elements in events he was hosting at the center.

Liberty Counsel spokesman Mat Staver says Bay Services offered Hughes two choices – termination of employment, or not allowing these juveniles to be at his church. Staver calls the policy against religious participation overly broad and impermissible.

"This essentially causes anybody who's going to church who also works with these juvenile offenders to choose between their faith and their job as a juvenile offender counselor," he says, predicting that the policy is "too broad to withstand a legal challenge."

Liberty Counsel has filed the lawsuit on Hughes' behalf. The lawsuit names BAYS and the managing agency for the University Area Community Center Complex as defendants, alleging the groups are not accommodating religious interests and are demonstrating religious bigotry in a public venue.