Some good news as our starter topic today: The Supreme Court ruled that churches have the right to hire and fire whoever they wish, contrary to the Obama administration which was trying to apply standard employment law to churches:
Religious organizations won a landmark victory Wednesday as the Supreme Court held that churches have the right to make employment decisions free from government interference over discrimination laws.
In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court endorsed for the first time the “ministerial exception” to state and federal employment discrimination laws while rejecting the Obama administration’s argument that churches should be treated no differently than other employers. [...]
“When a minister who has been fired sues her church alleging that her termination was discriminatory, the First Amendment has struck the balance for us,” Chief Justice Roberts said. “The church must be free to choose those who will guide it on its way.”
Allowing former employees to file anti-discrimination lawsuits “could end up forcing churches to take religious leaders they no longer want,” he said. [...]
The case, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, centered on a former teacher, Cheryl Perich, who argued that she was fired from the Missouri Synod Lutheran school in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Roberts is correct, of course, since it is possible that someone could use anti-discrimination lawsuits to be allowed back into a ministerial job, despite his/her no longer sharing the same beliefs as the congregation. No wonder Obama hates SCOTUS so much.
