Bank of America TERMINATES account of Christian charity that supports orphaned Ugandans

Bank of America (BofA) has completely shut down a bank account held by a Memphis-based Christian non-profit called Indigenous Advance Ministries.

The organization, which is known for various charitable operations such as its support of impoverished and orphaned Ugandan children, is notably Christian, pro-life, and opposes the concept of marriage being shared by anything other than one man and one woman. 

BofA issued a letter that it was canceling Indigenous Advance Ministries' account on April 24; the financial institution gave the group only a 30-day notice. The notification read: "Upon review of your accounts, we have determined you're operating in a business type we have chosen not to service at Bank of America," according to the Daily Mail.

Representatives of the group say that have "repeatedly" asked for a justification for the sudden shutdown. 

About a month later, BofA sent a follow-up message that stated: "Upon review of your accounts, we have determined you're operating in a business type we have chosen not to service at Bank of America."

In reaction to the debanking, Indigenous Advance Ministries board members Steve Happ and Bob Phillips penned a letter to the Tennessee attorney general's office in order to request assistance on the matter. 

"Being forced to transition so quickly caused a great deal of trouble for us," begins the letter. "It also disrupted our mission to Uganda in June and we were temporarily unable to pay salaries in Uganda. And we were left very confused."

"Our mission and work, supporting Ugandan children and families through indigenous Ugandan Ministries, has remained the same since we were founded and first opened our accounts with Bank of America."

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a nonprofit legal organization that works to protect the Constitutional rights of Americans, also moved to contact the state's attorney general. 

"We filed a complaint asking the TN AG Jonathan Skrmetti to investigate whether this de-banking was due to religious discrimination," ADF wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

BofA has denied that religious values ever played a role in its controversial cancellation, and has maintained that they "are not a factor in any account-closing decision."

A BofA spokesman claimed that the Christian nonprofit was shut down due to its operations involving debt collection, and the bank has denied accusations of religious discrimination. 

Despite the bank's allegations of rules violations from Advance Ministries, it curiously could not point to the exact part of its policy that bans the use of debt collections upon being requested to do so, according to the Daily Mail.