ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
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Churches Support Right to Hire Same-Faith Employees |
March 12, 2002
San Francisco, California, USA .... [Bettina Krause/
Pacific Union Staff/ANN]
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The California Supreme Court heard oral argument
March 11 regarding whether a Roman Catholic-owned medical clinic can fire
an employee who actively works against the religious mission of the institution.
"In essence, this case is about whether a religious institution can make
hiring and firing decisions on the basis of religion," says Robert W. Nixon,
legal counsel for the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide. "The church
has long argued that its institutions have a fundamental right to create and
preserve a distinct religious environment by hiring personnel who are supportive
of the values and teachings of the church. Reflecting constitutional rights
of church institutions, federal employment laws and most state and local
employment laws permit church entities to discriminate on the basis of religion."
The dispute in the California case centers on whether the Catholic medical
clinic had the right to fire Terrence Silo, a file clerk, who lost his job
for criticism of the Catholic faith and anti-Catholic proselytization of
co-workers and patients during work hours. A California state appellate court
initially ruled that Silo did have a right to engage in such actions and
that the Catholic clinic had no right to take religious matters into account
in making its employment decisions. The Catholic clinic then appealed the
decision to the state Supreme Court, with a broad group of church organizations
filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the clinic.
"If religious institutions cannot hire and retain only those who are qualified
to carry out its religious mission, then how can such institutions survive?"
asks Alan J. Reinach, director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty
department of the Adventist Church's Pacific Union Conference. "Church institutions
that are forced to hired those antagonistic to their spiritual mission risk
losing their religious distinctiveness."
Attorney Jeff Berman, lawyer for church organizations supporting the clinic,
participated in the oral arguments at the California Supreme Court. Berman,
from the law firm Sidley, Austin, Brown and Wood, represented a variety of
Baptist, Catholic, Christian Science, Latter-Day Saint, and Seventh-day Adventist
organizations, including Loma Linda University & Medical Center, Adventist
Health, and the General Conference.
A decision in the case is expected later this year.
Copyright © 2002 Adventist News Network . |
Copyright © 2002 Adventist News Network .
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ANN World News Bulletin is a review of news and information
issued by
the Communication department from the Seventh-day Adventist Church
World Headquarters and released as part of the service of Adventist
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Our news includes dispatches from the church's international offices
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ANN Staff: Ray Dabrowski, director;
Bettina Krause, news director;
Ansel Oliver, editorial assistant.
Copyright Adventist News Network 2001.
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