Supreme Court Saves Religious Liberty from Obama

[Kenny64]

Supreme Court Saves Religious Liberty from Obama

Supreme Court Saves Religious Liberty from Obama


In a devastating smackdown of the Obama administration’s extremist, anti-religious legal philosophy, a unanimous – repeat, unanimous – Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled anew that government usually may not interfere with a religious institution’s hiring and firing practices. The victory for First Amendment religious freedom is immense, and the embarrassment for the administration is supreme.

The case, styled Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, involved a Michigan church-school’s decision to terminate employment of a schoolteacher explicitly and openly hired as a “minister of religion, commissioned” – a position that included duties teaching a religion class four days a week. Courts for at least four decades have recognized what is known as a “ministerial exception” to most employment lawsuits. Without the exception, for instance, the government might force the Catholic Church to hire women as priests, regardless of church doctrine on the subject, in order to abide by anti-discrimination laws. The exception is an essential protection against government entanglement with free religious exercise.

Cheryl Perich, the teacher in Hosanna-Tabor, sued, alleging that her job should have been protected because of a disability (narcolepsy). The Obama administration, through the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, joined the suit on her behalf. It did not, however, merely argue that the ministerial exception, for various reasons, should not apply in her case. Instead, it took what the Supreme Court Wednesday called the “untenable” and “remarkable view that the Religion Clauses have nothing to say about a religious organization’s freedom to select its own ministers,” and that earlier case law somehow “precludes recognition of a ministerial exception.”

This view, wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the court, “has no merit.”

This is as categorical a rejection of an administration by the high court as can be imagined. There is no wiggle room in the language of the decision. And there were no dissenters, not even liberals such as Sonia Sotomayor. Slam, bang, not even close: “No merit,” period.

Having reaffirmed the existence of a ministerial exception, the court went on to rule that it was easily broad enough to encompass the dispute at hand:

Perich’s title as a minister reflected a significant degree of religious training followed by a formal process of com¬missioning. To be eligible to become a commissioned minister, Perich had to complete eight college-level cours¬es in subjects including biblical interpretation, church doctrine, and the ministry of the Lutheran teacher. She also had to obtain the endorsement of her local Synod district by submitting a petition that contained her aca¬demic transcripts, letters of recommendation, personal statement, and written answers to various ministry ¬related questions. Finally, she had to pass an oral exami¬nation by a faculty committee at a Lutheran college. It took Perich six years to fulfill these requirements.

For the administration to argue that somehow such an employee does not qualify as a “minister” of the religious institution is utterly absurd. The EEOC had argued that even if a ministerial exception does exist, it “should be limited to those employees who perform exclusively religious functions.”

[Sean Osborne]

[YeuEmMaiMai]

Praise the Lord for the righeous deed done here......it was sorely needed.....