Religious Freedom Protection^SM
Coverage for Ministries

An emotional injury claim is for non-economic damages that compensate a victim for the mental suffering of an injury.

Here are a few examples of the kind of activity that Religious Freedom Protection Coverage addresses:

• A pastor questioned a deceased’s salvation in his eulogy. The upset family members sued the church and pastor for emotional distress.
• A community used a church as an election polling place. A voter sued the church because he was offended by scripture painted on the walls.
• A couple sued a church-owned wedding venue after the owners cited their belief-based purpose detailed in their governing and operational documents and refused to book the event.

Religious Freedom Protection Coverage includes protections for the following persons while acting on a ministry’s behalf and for its benefit, and within the scope of their delegated authority:

• Employees
• Appointed persons (e.g., lay people)
• Volunteers who regularly serve (e.g., children’s ministry)

Brotherhood Mutual offers an extension endorsement specifically for educational institutions. It helps pay to defend educational institutions from challenges to:

• Financial aid for students.
• Academic and sporting scholarships.
• The accreditation for the school itself.

The current legal landscape already has presented several challenges to religious freedom. In fact, a significant percentage of religious freedom litigation is initiated by government agencies, such as state civil right commissions and the Internal Revenue Service.

Religious Freedom Protection Coverage is an occurrence policy. Why is that important? A claims-made policy only covers accidents and incidents submitted while the policy was in effect. An occurrence policy provides coverage for accidents and incidents that occur during the policy period, even if the policy has since expired.

Think of it this way: with a claims-made policy, you are renting the coverage for a set time period. With an occurrence policy, you own the coverage for that time period forever.