Church School Calls in the Fired Department
Joshua Payne-Elliott had worked at Cathedral High for 13 years. He knew the rules. So when the social studies teacher married another man, he knew he was putting his Catholic employer in an impossible situation.
Joshua Payne-Elliott had worked at Cathedral High for 13 years. He knew the rules. So when the social studies teacher married another man, he knew he was putting his Catholic employer in an impossible situation. For 22 months, the Indianapolis Archdiocese and Joshua tried to talk it out. But eventually, there was nothing left to say. If Cathedral kept him, the school would be turning its back on Catholic teaching. If they let him go, they’d be inviting a legal firestorm. In the end, the school chose its beliefs.
It was an agonizing decision, Archbishop Charles Thompson said soberly. But at the end of the day, if the church strives to be “Christ-centered,” then that means upholding Jesus’s teachings. “Every human being deserves respect and dignity,” he agreed, and the church will continue to “embrace, love and welcome all persons.” But the Bible’s “teaching on marriage as one man and one woman continues.” That doesn’t mean he or anyone else is perfect, Thompson was quick to add. “I’m a sinner too," the archbishop pointed out. But he pointed people to an old poster he once saw on the door of a science lab. ”[It] read, ‘Truth is not determined by majority opinion.’ The Church has taught for 2,000 years that marriage by nature is designed by God as one man and one woman… [That] doesn’t mean we don’t care,“ he pointed out. But it does mean they won’t compromise.
When Joshua sued the school for letting him go, he said he hoped it would "put a stop to the targeting of LGBTQ employees and their families.” That’s a convenient argument, but a phony one. Cathedral High School isn’t discriminating against anyone. This teacher, like everyone else on staff, agreed to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church in their personal and professional lives. If Payne-Elliott didn’t like that, he didn’t have to teach there! Instead, he’s trying to make the Archdiocese look like a villain for upholding the faith he knew it subscribed to.
That’s not just unfair, the president’s Department of Justice is arguing, it’s dangerous. In fact, Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband believes this case is so important that his team will be on hand in Indiana tomorrow to personally defend Cathedral High School in state court. “The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of religious institutions and people to decide what their beliefs are, to teach their faith, and to associate with others who share their faith. The First Amendment rightly protects the free exercise of religion.”
Payne-Elliott’s lawyer, Kathleen DeLaney, tried to shame the White House for getting involved in what she called “a local employment issue.” “What I take away from this is that the Trump administration is politicizing a legal dispute about an Indiana business tort,” she argued. But what the rest of us should take away from it is that the president will go to any lengths to protect religious liberty. That’s especially important after eight years of Barack Obama, whose DOJ openly sided against churches in these situations. Of course, the most famous example of that was the Hosanna-Tabor case, where all nine Supreme Court justices broke with Obama and agreed: the government shouldn’t meddle in the personnel decisions of faith-based groups.
Nothing’s changed since then. The courts still can’t “second-guess how religious institutions interpret and apply their own religious laws,” Trump’s attorneys argue. It’s true that the Left is trying. We’ve seen their outrage play out over and over again with private Christians schools, which they’re desperate to push into some sort of spiritual ghetto. Fortunately, liberals haven’t had the benefit of another radical president to implement their plans — but we don’t have to guess what they’ll do if they get one.
The leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, Joe Biden, has already said his very first priority in office is a bill that would destroy religious schools: the Equality Act. So while we’re grateful for everything President Trump has done, it’s important to remember that we’re just one election away from losing the freedom that schools like Cathedral enjoy.
“It’s a difficult time for the church,” Archbishop Thompson agreed. In fact, “It’s a difficult time for any institution of faith right now… I sometimes think,” he said, “[that] society has pushed the church to the margins and peripheries. But we must continue to engage the world, engage society, and engage culture with our message, with that Good News, with those teachings, and what we believe the word of God and the tradition of the church has revealed… [and take] that call to others.”
Originally published here.
California’s Aisle of Misfit Toys
If you’re wondering who’s running California, it’s the eight-year-olds. That’s where Assemblyman Evan Low (D) got his ridiculous idea to fine department stores that don’t create gender-neutral aisles for clothes and toys. “I was inspired to introduce this bill," he said, after the third grader of one of his staffer’s asked, ”‘Why should a store tell me what’s a girl’s shirt or toy is?’“
If Low’s bill becomes law, any big retail store that doesn’t comply would be staring down a $1,000 fine. Starting in 2023, AB 2826 would order any company with more than 500 employees to leave the days of pink and blue behind. "Britten’s bill,” Low argued, “will help children express themselves freely and without bias.” Unfortunately for him, not a lot of California parents agree. Candice Miller, who was visiting the Central Coast, told KSBY News, “We wanna raise our daughter to know she’s a girl. That’s how she was born, [and] that’s how she will live…” The same, she said, goes for her sons. “I want my daughter to dress like a girl, and I want my boys to dress like boys — and I want those sections to be separated.”
As far as Low is concerned, “keeping similar items that are traditionally marketed either for girls or for boys separated makes it more difficult for the consumer to compare the products and incorrectly implies that their use by one gender is inappropriate.” Other parents disagree. Running errands is hard enough without the headache of chasing down things in politically-correct departments. Besides, most residents want to know, doesn’t California have better things to do than regulate its stores’ layouts?
At the U.S. House last week, the issue wasn’t keeping girls’ and boys’ merchandise separate that was the issue, but girls and boys themselves. During a hearing over appropriations, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson got into a fiery exchange over the agency’s commonsense policy on homeless shelters. Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.) was borderline furious that Dr. Carson won’t allow biological men into women’s shelters.
For months, the secretary has explained that his agency’s return to the law’s definition of “sex” has nothing to do with respecting persons or treating them equally. “[We] obviously believe in equal rights for everybody, including the LGBT community. But we also believe in equal rights for the women in the shelters… [W]e want to look at things that really provide for everybody and [don’t] impede the rights of one for the sake of the other… There were some women who said they were not comfortable with the idea of being in a shelter, being in a shower, [with] somebody who had a very different anatomy.”
During the hearing, Quigley tried to twist that reasonable justification into an attack on people who identify as transgender. You’re basically saying, he argued, “[that] if someone doesn’t like someone else in that shelter, for whatever reasons, that you can allow discrimination against those people.” “No,” Dr. Carson fired back. “What I’m saying is we have to take everybody’s feelings into consideration. You can’t just select a group and say that their feelings trump everyone else’s groups.”
Unfortunately, in this era of cultural confusion, that’s what any number of people are saying — including, it turns out, one small town school in Minnesota. The kids eating at Marshall Middle School’s cafeteria have been experiencing heartburn over the rainbow flag that’s still hanging defiantly by the U.S. flag. Despite a petition asking administrators to take the display down, the school has stubbornly stuck to its guns — refusing, even, to let other flags like the yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” to join the collection.
After some testy school board meetings, parents have turned to Thomas More Society for help. Special Counsel Erick Kaardal sent a pointed letter to the school, reminding them that the building is funded by public tax dollars. “Whether this was an inappropriate decision by a staff member,” he explains, “or a deliberate violation of students’ rights, this is a serious matter. It is incumbent upon school officials to write and enforce rules that prevent the public school from being turned into a forum for the display of a single ideology. As members of the academic community, these administrators should understand that you cannot trample on the right to free speech.”
“At the very least,” he argued, “it’s divisive and insensitive. It makes it appear that the school supports one group’s beliefs at the expense of others.” It’s time, Kaardal argues, for a “viewpoint neutral policy.” “If a federal lawsuit is needed to make this happen, we are equipped to pursue that action.”
Originally published here.
Abortionists Try to Dodge a Ballot in Colorado
The two women hugged and started to cry. Stacked next to them in the office of Colorado’s secretary of state were 29 boxes — each one filled to the brim with petitions. For months, the organizers of “Due Date Too Late” had canvassed the state, desperate to find 124,632 signatures to protect life. They ended up with 13,868 more.
“We are just here being the voice for those who don’t have a voice,” Giuliana Day, one of the cosponsors, said. With volunteers all over Colorado, they managed to be exactly that, gathering more than enough support to put the 22-week limit for abortion on the November ballot. If the secretary of state certifies the petitions, it will be up to voters — not the Democratic House, Senate, and governor — whether Initiative 120 becomes law.
Based on the polling, Colorado’s pro-lifers definitely have a shot. Second- and third-trimester abortions are hugely unpopular in America, even among self-described “pro-choicers.” When Gallup asked Americans last year, they were surprised to discover just how conservative the country’s views are. Only 13 percent think the procedure should be legal in the third trimester, and not many more — 28 percent — agree on the second. Those are dismal numbers for Initiative 120’s opponents. Even liberal media outlets like Slate have warned that the Left is on shaky ground when it comes this debate. “Even the most pro-choice people,” the admit, “aren’t sold on abortion rights beyond the first trimester.”
Our congratulations to the team of Due Date Too Late for showing other states that it doesn’t matter who’s in power! The people will always have a say as long as dedicated pro-lifers give them one. Now, get out and vote, Colorado! Meanwhile, if you’re wondering where your state stands on late-term abortion, check out FRC’s Pro-Life Map.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.
