Supreme Court expands protections for religious schools from nondiscrimination laws
(Worthy News) – The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that religious schools are allowed to fire religion teachers for any reason they wish, a major expansion of protections for religious institutions against nondiscrimination laws.
The case, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, concerned the so-called ministerial exception, which exempts certain religious institutions from nondiscrimination laws. In a 7-2 decision with a majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the court held that “the independence of religious institutions in matters of ‘faith and doctrine’ is closely linked to independence in what the Court has termed ‘matters of church government.’”
Because of these reasons, the court found that in the interests of protecting the First Amendment, it should stay out of employment disputes. Alito wrote in his opinion that while the decision does not mean that churches and religious institutions are exempt from all secular laws, it is not the government’s place to intrude upon their “autonomy with respect to internal management decisions that are essential to the institution’s central mission.” [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]
