A Knoxville couple is suing the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, saying a state-sponsored Christian-based adoption agency refused to help them because they are Jewish.

It is the state’s first lawsuit to challenge a new law that allows religious adoption agencies to deny service to families whose religious or moral beliefs aren't in sync with the provider's, the family's attorney told Knox News on Wednesday.

The adoption agency, the Holston United Methodist Home for Children based in Greeneville, Tennessee, denied Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram from acquiring Tennessee-mandated foster-parent training and a home-study certification as they attempted to adopt a child from Florida last year, the Rutan-Rams say.

Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram are suing the Tennessee Department of Children's Services and its director after a Christian adoption agency under state contract refused to help the couple foster and adopt a child because the Rutan-Rams are Jewish. A recently passed state law allows religious groups to refuse to provide services to people whose faith does not align with theirs.
The organization was previously but is no longer an arm of the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church. A spokesperson for the conference directed questions to the home.