Is it possible to be too Catholic to teach at Catholic school? New Jersey’s Immaculata High School thinks so. In a story that would be shocking even for a public school, Immaculata suspended a long-time teacher for defending what its own church espouses about marriage! Patricia Jannuzzi didn’t make the comments in class – or even during school time. But when she used her personal Facebook to express her personal views, the attack quickly turned personal too.

Like Dr. Ben Carson (and science!), Patricia believes homosexual behavior is a choice. So when the popular Republican came under fire for saying as much, Jannuzzi backed him up in a post. “They (advocates of same-sex marriage),” she wrote, “want to reengineer western civ into a slow extinction. We need healthy families with a mother and a father for the sake of the children and humanity!” Furious that Dan Savage lived up to his name with another disgusting tweet, Patricia shared an article about his rant (so vile we can’t repeat it) against Carson.

Somehow, the openly gay nephew of actress Susan Sarandon (who attended Immaculate) saw her post and wrote a letter to the school. Before long, his outrage was picked up by his famous aunt and tweeted all across the Internet. Almost immediately, the teacher was hauled into the office and ordered to disable her Facebook page, because her views were “completely inconsistent with our policy and position as a Catholic Christian community.”

That’s interesting, since Jannuzzi’s beliefs are the same as Pope Francis’s himself! “The family,” he has said, “based on the marriage of a man and a woman … is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society.” If she could be fired for agreeing with the Pope at a Catholic school, then these are scary times indeed. To placate Hollywood, Immaculata put Patricia on administrative leave, explaining that “We will do everything we can in this trying time to make clear that the philosophy of Immaculata High School is one of inclusion rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

Unfortunately for Principal Jean Kline – and anyone under the same illusion – Jesus’s teachings were anything but inclusive. He didn’t say, “I am one way, one truth, one life.” He said, “I am the way, the truth, the life.” No one, he insisted, comes to the Father, but by me. That “truth,” revealed in Scripture, teaches that sexuality belongs in the confines of man-woman marriage.

Regardless, Principal Kline wrote, “It is the policy of the school, that all faculty and staff demonstrate respect and sensitivity to all people at all times and to avoid offending any individuals or groups.” If Immaculata’s goal is to never offend anyone, they’ll have to put themselves at odds with Jesus – who said He came not to bring peace to the world, but rather division. Yes, the truth unites, but it also divides those who are opposed to it.

Meanwhile, Patricia’s sons have an urgent plea: “Our family is about to lose our health benefits. Our mother has recently and successfully battled breast cancer without missing a single day of teaching, except for the day of her operation. Health benefits are important to our family… Due to the overwhelming attacks in the media on her statement of Catholic belief, we do not believe she will be able to find another teaching position.” Let us not be naïve, Pope Francis warned with haunting irony in 2010: “This is not simply a political struggle, but it is an attempt to destroy God’s plan.” And people’s lives along with it.

Conversation Peace: Syrians Talk Religious Persecution at FRC

It wasn’t that long ago that war-torn northern Syria was a place of peace – free of the terror ripping through Christian families along the northern neck. Until the revolution in 2011, ancient people of different faiths coexisted, some working fields that had been inhabited since the Apostle Paul walked those same lands. Now, the only thing sown in the rich agricultural land is fear, as ISIS slaughters its way through villages, cutting children in two and burying others alive.

Christians there used to be treated better than other captives, Lauren Homer told us at a special FRC press conference on religious persecution [Thursday]. That all changed with the Islamic State’s march to Iraq. Their choices now are simple: flee, convert to Islam, live in servitude to the insurgents (paying heavy fines in gold), or die. Most of the defenseless Christian populations, if they’re lucky enough to escape, have. Others have stayed behind, trying to save communities they’ve occupied since 5,000 B.C.

That’s become much harder now, as ISIS has its sights set on overtaking their homeland – and with it, the strategic gateway to Iraq. Against ISIS’s tanks, mortars, and machine guns, the Christians are barely defending themselves. With just a few rifles and very little ammunition, time is running out. Unfortunately, it took dozens of gruesome beheadings and executions to get the world’s attention, but now that the Syrian Christians have it, they’re asking the United States for help. Bassam Ishak, President of the Syriac National Council of Syria, told us today that his country was thankful for American airstrikes, but says it isn’t enough. They need real protection.

Terrorists are headed for a town in the Christians’ land, he explained, that – if taken – would give them power over the crossroads of every major city. An innocent, religious people are all that stands in its way. He pleaded with those gathered, as he has on Capitol Hill this week, to ask their leaders for help. All along, the Obama administration has been reluctant to call ISIS’s campaign what it is: genocide. And, as I told the group assembled today, there’s a reason for that. If the President admits what this killing is, he would have a moral obligation to do something about it.

In the absence of real leadership, the responsibility falls to us – their brothers and sisters in Christ. As believers and Americans, we’re called to pray and advocate for persecuted Christians around the world. To understand exactly what they’re facing, click over to the website, listen to our friends in Syria, and learn how to help.

At Iowa U, a Degree of Bias

Teresa Wagner is a distinguished attorney, professor, and author. The mother of four, who in the 1990s served as a senior leader here at FRC, is also probably the first FRCer ever to obtain a favorable ruling in a case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Sadly, her victory before the nation’s highest legal bench is not one she ever wanted to obtain.

It only came about because in 2009, Teresa was denied a position at the University of Iowa’s law school because she’s a self-identified conservative who believes in protecting the unborn and sustaining one-man, one-woman marriage. Again, this is not a matter of Teresa’s qualifications: She holds four degrees and has an exceptional background as a practicing attorney and published author.

And as legal analyst Paul Mirengoff has written, “Wagner was already the associate director of the law school’s writing center. Moreover, she had taught legal writing at George Mason University Law School, edited three books, practiced as a trial attorney in Iowa, and written several legal briefs, including one in a U.S. Supreme Court case. In addition, the faculty-appointments committee at the University of Iowa College of Law recommended her appointment as a full-time instructor.” Yet she was denied a position on the law faculty because, to the shock and ire of the school’s reigning liberal ideologues, they could not abide having someone of her convictions among them.

So, after more than two years of trials and high legal fees, the Supreme Court last week declined “to block a second trial over whether the University of Iowa law school improperly passed over a conservative scholar for a faculty position. The justices on Monday rejected Iowa officials’ plea to revisit a lower court ruling in favor of school employee Teresa Wagner.”

[Wednesday], Teresa spoke here at FRC and detailed her long battle against the discrimination she had experienced for attempting to penetrate a liberal bastion as an unashamed conservative. Her story is moving, troubling, and brave – you won’t want to miss it.

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This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.