Ninth Circuit Delivers Judgement Favorable To Religious Freedom

from Speak Up and Alliance Defense Fund:

Are You Sitting Down?


Posted on August 26th, 2010 Freedom of Religion, Religious Freedom, freedom of association
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Yes, believe it or not, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has issued a favorable religious freedom decision. On Monday, the court held that World Vision is in fact a religious organization and thus allowed to fire three employees who had repudiated the Christian beliefs they once held.



The former employees claimed that, by firing them, World Vision committed religious discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII does forbid an employer from taking adverse action against a person because of his or her religious beliefs. And World Vision didn’t deny that it discharged the employees because they denied central Christian beliefs. But Title VII’s ban on religious discrimination in employment does not apply to “religious corporations, associations, or societies.” World Vision asserted that it was a religious organization; the federal district court that first heard the case agreed; and the Ninth Circuit affirmed that ruling.



This is hardly a ground-breaking decision. Consistent with the broad language of the statute, numerous courts have held that so-called “parachurch” organizations are exempt from Title VII’s ban. A decision going the other way would have been a real surprise. Nonetheless, one of the three judges on the Ninth Circuit panel disagreed, concluding (remarkably, in my view) that World Vision is not a religious organization. The fact that one judge dissented probably makes it more likely that the fired employees will ask the whole Ninth Circuit (i.e., the “en banc” court) to re-hear their appeal, and they may very well get another bite at the apple.



This case shows that the push to punish student religious groups with non-discrimination rules is part of a larger effort to marginalize theologically orthodox religious groups. The same secular left that thinks that a Christian Legal Society chapter should be pressured to have an atheist Bible study leader is the very same secular left that thinks that a seriously Christian humanitarian organization should be forced to hire people who reject its core religious beliefs. These opponents of religious freedom see religion and sexual orientation non-discrimination rules as a way of undermining the ability of theologically conservative groups to maintain their religious identity over time. Thankfully, they lost this one — so far.