I recently explained the importance of the Supreme Court’s decision affirming a church’s right to control whom it employs as a teacher in its religious school in a post you can read here. Unfortunately, the vital protection this case provides for religious freedom has largely been lost on the mainstream media. Instead, they’ve often focused on how this decision may affect teachers at religious schools. One AP article went so far as to assert that a teacher of Jewish Studies at a Jewish school should be seen as a “teacher whose subject is religion, not a religious teacher.” In the context of a religious school, this is completely at odds with the concept of religious freedom.

The Court of Appeals in the Hosanna-Tabor case made a similar argument (which was thankfully rejected by the Supreme Court). It opined that the teacher who sued the religious school wasn’t a minister because she spent six hours a day teaching secular subjects like math, social studies, and music.  Only an hour or so was spent on exclusively religious instruction. The fact that the teacher also lead weekly chapel services, taught a 30-minute religion class four days per week, lead prayer three times per day, and taught a morning devotional was considered to be largely irrelevant.  So the school was prohibited from firing the teacher, even though she violated church teachings regarding mediation of disputes among believers.

The appeals court (and the Associated Press) failed to recognize something even Christians sometimes forget – our biblical worldview and Christian principles affect all aspects of our lives.  That certainly includes how we teach our children all subjects – even those that don’t appear to be “religious” – such as music and social studies.  It even includes math, as demonstrated by the great mathematicians Sir Isaac Newton and Rene Descartes. And it certainly includes religious classes like Jewish Studies at a religious school that has as its purpose inculcating the religious theology and values of a particular religion.

Saying the Hosanna-Tabor case undermines the rights of teachers is like saying the desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education wrongly ignored the rights of teachers who wanted to only teach certain kids. The larger, more important, principle of elimination of racism – or protection of religious freedom in this case – is being missed. Thankfully, all nine Justices of the Supreme Court aren’t influenced by the misguided opinions of the Associated Press.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is rightly concerned that religious freedom as we’ve known it in this country for hundreds of years is increasingly under assault – by our own government!  In an open letter to his fellow bishops, Bishop Dolan, President of the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops lists numerous examples of government laws, policies, and regulations that have been propounded without any regard for the religious liberty upon which they are trampling.  He notes that the Department of Health and Human Services has recently required religious organizations to provide a broad range of reproductive services (such as abortion) to employees and/or the people being served by the ministry – many of which are in clear violation of the religious teachings of Roman Catholics as well as many Protestant denominations. The Department of Justice has refused to defend laws protecting marriage, and recently argued before the Supreme Court in the EEOC v. Hosanna-Tabor case that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment doesn’t provide any special protection for churches from governmental interference with their decisions to hire ministers.

All church leaders should heed Bishop Dolan’s call for vigilance and action. If we tolerate these intrusions on church freedom and independence from governmental control, we are setting ourselves up for eventual loss of the freedom to worship and live our lives as the Bible dictates.  If your church’s ministry is being restricted in any way, or government officials are requiring your church to govern itself in a manner that violates its religious principles, contact the Alliance Defense Fund at TellAdf.org right away.  We have over 30 attorneys on staff and a department specifically dedicated to defending the Church’s right to hear and speak the Truth on a pro bono basis. We also have over 2,000 allies that have committed to provide legal services to churches free of charge. Please contact us if your church is experiencing the assault Bishop Dolan has clearly identified. We will stand with you to make sure these attacks on religious freedom are not successful.

A report of yet another Christian punished for violating laws prohibiting criticism of other religions has come out of Pakistan. This time, the victim is a 13-year-old girl who made the mistake of writing something in her school work that was deemed “blasphemous”. In Pakistan, criticism of Islam is considered defamation and is punishable by death. Authorities weren’t so harsh in this existence, but did expel the girl from school and forced her mother to change jobs.

This is just one more example of  how efforts to censor speech because it is critical of other religions is a danger to freedom. In a recent post, I cite statistics demonstrating that laws prohibiting defamation of religion under the guise of protecting religion invariably have just the opposite effect and end up limiting religious liberty. In the West, such laws often take the form of prohibitions on “hate speech” or “bullying.” If you haven’t noticed, any speech that even hints of being critical of another’s religious beliefs, political views, or lifestyle choices is labeled “hate speech” or “bullying” in our society. If we succumb to popular efforts to criminalize it, we will begin sliding into the abyss of religious persecution with Pakistan.

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Anyone opposed to the acceptance of homosexual behavior as a healthy, normal, moral equivalent to heterosexuality is often accused of homophobia – an irrational fear of those engaged in homosexual behavior.  This same label is applied to any church that teaches biblical morality on the issue.  Recently, Bill Hybels, Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, had to defend his church’s  loving and biblical morality teachings against an attack from a homosexual activist who persuaded the head of Starbucks to breach his contract to speak at the church’s leadership summit.  Some churches, like Mt. Hope Church in East Lansing, Michigan, are sometimes even physically attacked by radical groups who support the homosexual agenda like BashBack! (an indication of irrational fear on their part).

But most pastors and churches I’m familiar with are like Willow Creek and love those caught up in homosexual behavior, wanting them to experience the freedom that Christ can give.  They don’t fear them, but they fear for them.  As Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary recently put it in his piece on the topic, “Our greatest fear is not that homosexuality will be normalized and accepted, but that homosexuals will not come to know of their own need for Christ and the forgiveness of their sins.”  Well said. If  churches truly love those who are engaged in sin that separates them from a right relationship with God, they cannot say sin is OK.  That truly would be hateful, not loving.

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All my life, pastors have been telling me that the ways of Christ are not the ways of man.  The Bible says that if you follow Christ, you are called to act in ways that are contrary to the ways of this world.  Deny yourself. Pray for your enemies.  And if someone slaps you on the right cheek, then turn to him the left as well. 

But what if following the ways of this world could save your church from closing its doors, while doing the “right” thing could shut you down?  For a church in Vienna, Virginia, this admonition was more than just an abstract hypothetical.   And their response is a good reminder to all of us what the church should be about.

The USA Today reported that for several years, a youth ministries director for the Vienna Presbyterian Church was allegedly engaging in improper sexual relations with students.  The Church’s lawyers, hired by its insurance company and acting like most lawyers would, wanted to minimize the Church’s liability.  That is the way of the world.  On March 23, 2011 the lawyers told the Church:

 “Do not make any statements, orally, in writing or in any manner, to acknowledge, admit to or apologize for anything that may be evidence of or interpreted as (a suggestion that) the actions of Vienna Presbyterian Church … caused or contributed to any damages arising from the intentional acts/abuse/misconduct” by the youth director.” 

This is not uncommon in the legal world.  We as attorneys never want our clients talking about matters that could be litigated.  Statements might be taken out of context.  Words can get confused.  It is just prudent to not have your clients comment at all about litigious matters.

But what about the truth?  What about ministering to the needs of a hurting congregation?  Does the church simply allow the legal process to play out to determine the truth and then to help the congregation heal? 

It is not as if telling the truth in this case would be without cost to the Church.  Under our legal system, if the Church erred in reporting sexual abuse by its pastors, and thereby caused more abuse to occur, it could be liable for millions.  Such a verdict could shut a church down.  Since 2002, dozens of lawsuits have been filed against churches by people alleging sexual abuse by clergy or church employees.  Jury awards and settlements have ranged from tens of thousands of dollars to many millions. In a 2007 case, the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $660 million to 500 people who alleged they were sexually abused by clergy.

So how did the Church in Virginia respond to the lawyer’s demand?  The very next day, the church sent a letter to its congregants saying, “Members of Staff and of [the Church Board] are profoundly sorry that [the Church’s] response after the abuse was discovered was not always helpful to those entrusted to our care…”

And in a sermon on the following Sunday, Pastor Peter James went further.  ”We won’t hide behind lawyers. … Jesus said the truth will set us free.”

Then, turning to a group of young women in the audience, he said:

“Let me speak for a moment to our survivors.  We, as church leaders, were part of the harm in failing to extend the compassion and mercy that you needed. Some of you felt uncared for, neglected and even blamed in this church. I am truly sorry … I regret the harm this neglect has caused you.”

We, as members of the Church, should never forget our true calling – to be obedient and faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ – even if this comes at a cost.  And as an attorney with ADF’s Church Project, I’m committed to helping churches make difficult choices when that cost may come in the form of a lawsuit.

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