BOA Debanks Another Ministry

<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW237851844 BCX4"> <p><a href= "https://www.christianpost.com/news/bank-of-america-cancels-accounts-for-ugandan-outreach-ministry.html"> <em><span data-contrast="none">The</span></em> <em><span data-contrast="none">Christian Post</span></em></a> <span data-contrast="none">recently reported that the Bank of America closed the accounts of</span> <a href= "https://indigenousadvance.org/"><span data-contrast= "none">Indigenous Advance Ministries</span></a><span data-contrast= "none">, a Christian nonprofit whose goal is discipleship and business training for young Ugandans. The bank denies closing the accounts based on the ministry’s religious beliefs, claiming it instead closed them because of the kind of debt-collection business it has in Uganda.</span><span data-ccp-props= "{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":0,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">Still, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jeremy Tedesco</span> <a href= "https://www.christianpost.com/news/bank-of-america-cancels-accounts-for-ugandan-outreach-ministry.html"> <span data-contrast="none">points out</span></a> <span data-contrast="none">that, under an Obama-era policy, many large banks have leveraged risk tolerance policies to “box out disfavored but legal business operations.” Often, that means</span> <a href= "https://www.breakpoint.org/adf-announces-new-diversity-viewpoint-benchmark-for-corporations/"> <span data-contrast="none">conservative and Christian groups</span></a><span data-contrast= "none">. </span><span data-ccp-props= "{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":0,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="none">There are unknowns involved in this case, but debanking is a very real threat to religious organizations. There are too many examples for all of them to be coincidences. Some institutions will even refuse to allow charitable gifts to be made to some groups through a donor-advised fund.</span><span data-ccp-props= "{"134233279":true,"201341983":0,"335