The Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) revoked the volunteer credentials of an ordained minister because he was unable to sign a statement promising to refrain from ever telling juvenile inmates that homosexuality was “sinful.”

Lawyers at Liberty Counsel, a public interest law firm, have sent a letter to the Department giving them until July 31 to reinstate the volunteer visitor credentials of Pastor David Wells after he was barred from visiting, counseling or leading worship services at the Warren County Regional Juvenile Detention Center. Wells has been serving at the Center for over ten years, visiting and mentoring to juveniles under the prison ministry of Pleasant View Baptist Church in McQuady, Tennessee.

According to the DJJ, their policy on “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” prohibits “staff, volunteers, interns, and contractors from using derogatory language in a manner that conveys bias towards or hatred of the LGBTQI community. DJJ staff, volunteers, interns, and contractors shall not imply or tell LGBTQI juveniles that they are abnormal, deviant, sinful, or that they can or should change their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The Department’s policy “equates the teaching of Biblical morality with ‘derogatory,’ ‘biased,’ and ‘hateful’ speech,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel.

“In so doing, the DJJ policy creates an unconstitutional, religious litmus test for DJJ access. The First Amendment prohibits the government from viewpoint discrimination. This detention center may not prohibit the expression of Biblical morality simply because a few DJJ policymakers object to the Bible and its teaching.”

Unfortunately for the juveniles currently being held at the Center, many of them are there because of sexual crimes and Pastor Wells has a unique ability to deal with youth who are troubled in these areas.

“ . . . [M]any children in the DJJ system have been sexually abused by others, including those of the same sex, and experience confusion about their sexuality, including feelings of same-sex attractions and compulsive sexual behavior,” the letter states. “Indeed, Mr. Wells himself is ideally suited to minister to them, as he was sexually abused for many years by a man when he was a young child, and successfully went on to overcome that abuse.”

The letter goes on to say that Mr. Wells “has dealt with everything from a young man who sexually abused his sister, and then killed her; to young girls who are pregnant at the age of thirteen by men twice their age; to children who have been molested and sodomized by adults and older teens, and who have then gone on to do the same to younger children; all of whom are caught up in the DJJ system and feel hopeless.

"All of these children have asked Mr. Wells if there was any hope for them in this life, and in the life to come. He has told them without exception that Christ can, and would, forgive them, if they would repent and believe the gospel. This message has given them hope, and many have told him this personally and in written correspondence.”

These children should not be denied the hope and healing so many have found in the Word!

“Pastor Wells must be able to discuss what the Bible says about matters of sexuality with the juveniles he is trying to help,” Staver said. “To remove the Bible from a pastor’s hands is like removing a scalpel from a surgeon’s hands. Without it, they cannot provide healing.”

Liberty Counsel has demanded a written response from the DJJ by July 31 in which the department agrees to attach no religious litmus test to the subject of homosexuality as a precondition for counseling at the Center, that the DJJ’s policy be revoked, and that Pastor Wells visiting privileges will be reinstated.

If the letter is not received in that time, Liberty Counsel has promised to “take further steps to prevent irreparable harm to the rights of Mr. Wells and similarly situated ministers and volunteers.”

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