While discrimination is not usually associated with charity, a recent court ruling requires a state-run charitable network to allow it.

A Wisconsin program that promotes charitable giving among state employees may not exclude faith-based charities, a federal judge ruled Sept. 29.

The Association of Faith-Based Organizations, a coalition of Christian groups based in Springfield, Va., filed the lawsuit last April, alleging the state-run program wrongly denied participation to several religious organizations.

The program, the State Employees Combined Campaign, allows state and University of Wisconsin System employees to directly donate a portion of their salary to participating charities. To be considered for the program, a charity must submit a written assurance of nondiscrimination against its staff, governing board members and those the charity serves. Faith-based organizations that used religion as a basis for board membership were denied as potential recipients for failing to comply with the anti-discrimination policy.

In the decision, Judge John C. Shabaz ruled prohibiting such charities on the grounds of discrimination was "constitutionally impermissible."

"In the present situation, the right of religious organizations to discriminate on the basis of religious beliefs in choosing its governing members and employees is approved and protected by statute," Shabaz wrote in the ruling.

This is not the program's first discrimination issue. In 2002, then-Gov. Scott McCallum exempted the Boy Scouts of America from the discrimination policy. The BSA can exclude homosexuals as members.

U.S. Rep. Mark Green, Gov. Jim Doyle's Republican challenger in next month's election, has criticized the administration for excluding certain religious charities from the SECC.

"Wisconsin's faith-based charities are on the front lines of every community in this state, fighting to protect our families, clean up our neighborhoods and improve the lives of all those they faithfully serve," Green said in a press release. "It's absurd that the Doyle Administration would exclude them from the state employee's giving program."

Scott Larrivee, a spokesman for the Department of Administration, said that it was never anyone's intention to remove faith-based charities.

"This was just a dispute about the language of the non-discrimination clause," Larrivee said. "The program has pulled in nearly $45 million for charity and a lot of that has gone to faith-based charities."

Larrivee also said the state respects Shabaz's decision and will not appeal it. After the lawsuit was filed, Doyle said requirements for participating charities were in place long before he took office and should be re-examined by the board that oversees the program.

John McAdams, a political science professor at Marquette, said the court's decision is a part of a recent trend.

"Courts have been increasingly abandoning the notion of a strict wall between church and state," he said. "The general tendency is to enforce neutrality."

In terms of the gubernatorial election, McAdams felt the ruling would have little impact. "It's a fairly obscure issue," he said. "I doubt it will weight heavily on voters' minds."