We Christians spend a lot of time complaining about the world. Being rather inconstant in our thinking, we both recognize that the world is evil (a theological truth) and also whine and complain when it does evil things (a proof of our foolishness). A popular point for such complaining is the legal system.
Well, today is a good day for the legal system. In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC, issued this morning, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed an important element of our freedom of religion - the right to choose ministers without asking government permission. As the government has passed employment discrimination laws, there have been many cases in lower courts regarding claims by ministers who wanted to keep jobs which their churches wanted to take away. They have claimed all manner of alleged discrimination (age, sex, race, disability, etc.). They have almost always lost because the First Amendment's right to free exercise of religion trumps all such laws.
Today, the Court decided a claim by a "called teacher" at a Lutheran school. A called teacher is one who is ordained and trained in a specific way to be a spiritual leader. Ultimately, she was terminated and claimed that she was terminated because she threatened to file a lawsuit against the church based on her disability. The church won at the lower court, lost at the Sixth Circuit, and won today (and finally) at the Supreme Court.
Put simply, the Court held that selection of ministers is a fundamental right of a body of believers, into which the government has no right to look. It concluded its opinion with this very simple truth: "The church must be free to choose those who will guide it on its way."
This is important because, in fact, the evil of the world has tried to destroy churches in many ways, not least of which is controlling who can and who cannot be ministers. As the Court noted, the Church of England allowed the government such power in the years before the American Revolution. In the First Amendment, the Founders made sure that the American government could not control churches' decisions about religion, a protection that the Obama Administration hoped to eliminate.
As a result of the decision, the First Amendment remains a powerful defense for churches in such situations. It has been under attack since the Obama Administration took office. In this case, the administration attempted to destroy the function of the religious clauses of the First Amendment entirely, arguing that the protection of free exercise means nothing more than "freedom of association" and arguing that the federal government had the right to order churches to hire and retain particular ministers, despite the beliefs of those churches.
It was a big issue, as such issues go, because churches will not, for the foreseeable future, be faced with government-imposed ministers, which was at least part of the goal of the lawsuit.
It is an evil world. We cannot look to it or to its instruments of power for our safety or protection in serving God. Nonetheless, it is a good day when one of those powerful institutions (the Supreme Court) recognizes and protects our rights against a government agency which seeks to destroy them.
Well, today is a good day for the legal system. In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC, issued this morning, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed an important element of our freedom of religion - the right to choose ministers without asking government permission. As the government has passed employment discrimination laws, there have been many cases in lower courts regarding claims by ministers who wanted to keep jobs which their churches wanted to take away. They have claimed all manner of alleged discrimination (age, sex, race, disability, etc.). They have almost always lost because the First Amendment's right to free exercise of religion trumps all such laws.
Today, the Court decided a claim by a "called teacher" at a Lutheran school. A called teacher is one who is ordained and trained in a specific way to be a spiritual leader. Ultimately, she was terminated and claimed that she was terminated because she threatened to file a lawsuit against the church based on her disability. The church won at the lower court, lost at the Sixth Circuit, and won today (and finally) at the Supreme Court.
Put simply, the Court held that selection of ministers is a fundamental right of a body of believers, into which the government has no right to look. It concluded its opinion with this very simple truth: "The church must be free to choose those who will guide it on its way."
This is important because, in fact, the evil of the world has tried to destroy churches in many ways, not least of which is controlling who can and who cannot be ministers. As the Court noted, the Church of England allowed the government such power in the years before the American Revolution. In the First Amendment, the Founders made sure that the American government could not control churches' decisions about religion, a protection that the Obama Administration hoped to eliminate.
As a result of the decision, the First Amendment remains a powerful defense for churches in such situations. It has been under attack since the Obama Administration took office. In this case, the administration attempted to destroy the function of the religious clauses of the First Amendment entirely, arguing that the protection of free exercise means nothing more than "freedom of association" and arguing that the federal government had the right to order churches to hire and retain particular ministers, despite the beliefs of those churches.
It was a big issue, as such issues go, because churches will not, for the foreseeable future, be faced with government-imposed ministers, which was at least part of the goal of the lawsuit.
It is an evil world. We cannot look to it or to its instruments of power for our safety or protection in serving God. Nonetheless, it is a good day when one of those powerful institutions (the Supreme Court) recognizes and protects our rights against a government agency which seeks to destroy them.