For the 21 members of the Senate who voted against House Bill 655, Senator Theresa Manzella had a very specific message.

“To those of you who are in opposition to it, I’m sorry,” Manzella, a Republican from Hamilton said. “I wish you knew the Jesus Christ that I know, because he would never abandon, or abuse, or hurt children.”

At the heart of a fiery debate on Monday was whether the state’s foster care system discounts families with strong religious beliefs. However, other lawmakers worried that foisting strong or different religious beliefs on foster children could create more trauma or instability.

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The bill was brought by Representative Greg Oblander, R-Billings, and carried by Manzella, and it seeks to change laws regarding foster care and adoption services. The bill passed a second reading, 29-21. The legislation’s stated intention is “prohibiting discriminatory action” to potential foster parents or those interested in adoption.

Proponents of the bill said it would open up more opportunities for children to be fostered or adopted, and the Montana Family Foundation testified some state-sponsored training for foster parents did not fit into some people’s religious beliefs. Opponents said it could impress religious beliefs onto adopted and foster children, with references to the country’s Native American boarding school era.

It drew lengthy and, at times, furious emotional debate. Multiple legislators — including Senators Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, and John Fuller, R-Kalispell — stood to speak on the bill and amendment several times.

Windy Boy, a member of the Rocky Boy’s Chippewa-Cree tribe, stood three times on the bill itself after speaking during an amendment. Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvary, R-Billings, shut Windy Boy down when he tried to speak on the floor for a third time. Senate rules allowed two opportunities to stand and speak on an item.

“I’m not going to apologize for standing more than twice,” Windy Boy had said moments prior. “That’s what my constituents sent me here to do.”

Windy Boy’s opposition to the bill included references to religious run boarding schools, one of the darkest periods of American history. Thousands of Indigenous children were sent to Christian-run boarding schools to be “assimilated” in white culture. More than 3,000 children died at these schools, according to a 2024 report in the Washington Post. The federal government also commissioned a report released in 2024 on boarding schools. Some of those children were sexually abused, including in Montana.

“A lot of those kids had no choices,” Windy Boy said on the floor. “The parents had no choices. But yet, at the same time, those kids were spanked, they were abused, mental abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse. Is that the kind of system that we’re going to continue pushing into this era? I should hope not.”

An amendment from Senator Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, sought to take some of the teeth out of the legislation, removing foster care. Neumann presented it as strictly as a reunification ideal — essentially foster children should be placed in culturally appropriate situations.

“It’s taking foster care out just to make sure that birth parents and families, that their beliefs are able to be held intact in case of reunification,” Neumann said. “I believe everyone here supports reunification of families wherever possible.”

Some Senate Republicans appeared to view both the amendment as well as some statements made on the floor to be a full-throated attack on Christianity.

“It’s very clear what’s going on here,” Fuller said. “This is a secular attempt to deny people of faith, of any kind, of being involved in the foster care system.”

Senator Dennis Lenz said there was “an illusion” religion had a “negative impact.”

“If your car breaks down in the middle of the inner city in the dark of the night, and you have a mile back to home and a group of 20-year-olds is coming to you out of the dark, wouldn’t it make a difference if they’re coming from the Bible study?” said Lenz, a Republican from Billings. “Most likely.”

The Senate was under “pressure” to pass the bill, Senator Ellie Boldman, D-Missoula said on the floor. Some of that pressure was from the Montana Family Foundation, Boldman said in a text message, and one of the organization’s lobbyists, Derek Oestreicher, was seated on a bench Monday in the Senate gallery.

Oestreicher also provided testimony during the bill’s Senate Judiciary hearing. He said during the bill’s hearing that his organization had heard from religious families they would choose their faith over fostering.

“Montana Family Foundation was contacted by two separate families over the past year related to some of the required training that the state requires for foster families to undergo, and it discussed LGBTQ issues and how to address those issues,” Oestreicher said. “And these families were concerned that this was a required training, and they weren’t necessarily required to say they were an ally or that they would take a certain action with regard to LGBT issues, but it trended toward that, and it made them feel very uncomfortable.”

Senator Carl Glimm, R-Kila, said he supported the bill and that it was “academic” for him having gone through the process, though it wasn’t clear if he meant fostering or adoption.

But he then went on to say for him, there was no prejudice against his Lutheran faith.

“I’ve done it,” Glimm said, “In my process, I wasn’t discriminated against for my religious views.”