Tomorrow, Liberty Counsel will present evidence at a hearing in federal court that the University of Maine System (UMS) discriminated against Calvary Chapel Belfast when rescinding the church’s winning bid in a property sale over its Christian beliefs. After objections by the other bidders and the local community over the church’s religious doctrine, UMS subsequently held a second, rigged bidding process that awarded the Hutchinson Center building to a secular bidder.  

Liberty Counsel alleges that UMS, Maine’s largest educational enterprise, has unlawfully conspired and discriminated against the church on the basis of religion in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The goal of the lawsuit is an injunction on behalf of the church to prevent UMS from selling the building to any other bidder and halt its irreparable infringement of the church’s religious freedom rights.

Although U.S. District Judge Stacey Neumann denied Liberty Counsel’s previous request for a temporary restraining order, the property now comes with a notice to any potential purchaser that the church’s lawsuit may “unwind” any sale.

In August 2024, Calvary Chapel Belfast submitted the highest bid for the Hutchinson Center building where it had previously rented space and was subsequently awarded the right to purchase the property. Once UMS announced the church as the winning bidder, Waldo Community Action Partners (WCAP) and Future of the Hutchinson Center Steering Committee and Waterfall Arts (FHC-WA) – two competing bidders – sent a series of protest letters to the university attacking the church’s religious beliefs on human sexuality. According to the lawsuit, FHC-WA essentially wrote that UMS should rescind the church’s award because “a Christian church would necessarily discriminate against gays and lesbians.” WCAP’s protest letter also attacked the church stating it must not receive the property because its “very design” as a Christian church was discriminatory and that its religious values should preclude it from the award. The local community also vocally expressed their objection to UMS selling the building to a church. UMS then rescinded the church’s winning bid citing a deficiency in the bidding process that did not account for a network Internet hub located in the Hutchinson Center building even though the church’s bid included a mandatory leaseback provision for the hub. Then UMS held a second, rigged bidding process that awarded the building to WCAP. In December 2024, UMS denied the church’s appeal of the university system’s bidding process decisions, so the church proceeded with the religious discrimination lawsuit.

Initially, UMS defended its property sale to the church issuing a press release stating, “The university cannot discriminate, including on the basis of religion. Doing so would be against the law and inconsistent with the university’s commitment to inclusion.”

Liberty Counsel’s lawsuit seeks to restore the church as the rightful awardee from the first, non-discriminatory bidding process.

Calvary Chapel Belfast is one of the six churches that birthed out of Calvary Chapel Bangor after Maine Governor Janet Mills ordered unconstitutional COVID-19 lockdowns for churches.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The University of Maine System engaged in discriminatory actions against Calvary Chapel Belfast. The church participated in the bidding processes in good faith, but the university unlawfully rescinded their winning bid over its religious beliefs under the guise of procedural deficiencies. Such discrimination is unlawful and may end up being a costly mistake for the University of Maine System.”