The U.S. Department of Agriculture told FoxNews.com in a written statement that religious activities by such organizations aren’t forbidden, as long as participation isn’t a condition of assistance. “USDA was recently made aware of the situation in Indiana and is working to provide guidance to the state agency that administers the program,” the statement said.

An Indiana congressman is looking into possible “misinterpretation” of federal guidelines after a local food pantry was cut off from federal aid for asking clients to pray, FoxNews.com has learned.

Todd Young, a Republican congressman serving Indiana’s 9th District, has contacted state officials regarding Community Provisions of Jackson County, a food pantry in Seymour whose director, Paul Brock, insists he will not stop asking clients if they want to pray with him or one of its 45 volunteers when they receive food.

“It certainly appears there is a misinterpretation of some rules,” Young’s spokesman, Trevor Foughty, told FoxNews.com. “We want to make sure that no one is being denied the public assistance that they need.”

Brock told FoxNews.com that he never requires anyone to pray in order to receive nourishment they need.

“We ask them if they want to pray with us; if they say no, then we just let them go on through,” Brock said. “We’re not a church. My job is to feed them and if I can pat them on the back and pray for them and lift them up somehow, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Brock said 98 percent of those asked ultimately pray with Community Provisions volunteers. He said his First Amendment rights are being “trampled upon” by state officials.

“People know what we stand for in this community,” he said. “People tell us what’s wrong with them and ask us to pray for them. I don’t want the state of Indiana to take that right away from me.”

That scenario, however, flies in the face of a regulation in the national Emergency Food Assistance Program, which states that no “political, religious, or any other non-related activity can be conducted as a condition of, or in conjunction with, receiving commodities or prepared meals” containing commodities.

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