After Tennessee overturned an attempt to pass a new religious freedom bill in the state, a faith-based group of counsellors says it is ready to serve anyone without discrimation.
On March 31, lawmakers in Tennessee voted to repeal a bill that would have allowed student counsellors across the state to deny mental health services to students based on the respective counsellors' religious beliefs.
According to WSMV-TV, the backlash generated by the controversial Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act and criticism within the state prompted Tennessee's legislators to shelve the bill.
Tennessee already has an existing religious freedom bill that was passed in 2009.
The Indiana bill was signed into law by Governor Mike Pence on March 27, but was amended on April 2 after criticism from opponents who worried that the law's provisions would result in discrimination in business establishments and workplaces against the LGBT community in Indiana.
The amended law now states that businesses are explicitly prohibited from discriminating against members of the LGBT community.
Teen Challenge, a faith-based addiction programme in Tennessee told WRCB TV that the group is ready to serve "anyone who truly needs help" regardless of addiction, religious affiliation or lifestyle.
Based in Chattanooga, Teen Challenge assists people in overcoming addictions like drugs and alcohol through a 12-month evangelisation programme.
"Our job is to love them, and love them through their addiction and we're going to come at it from a faith based perspective. But we're here to help them regardless," the group's leader, Roger Hele, said.
Hele further elaborated that the common denominator between the people that Teen Challenge has helped and is helping is the fact that they are all "hurting." He said that their patients deal with the thought every day that they have a "life controlling addiction," and they continually feel hopeless and "out of control" of their own lives.
"Just love them right where they're at," Hele advised.
