Churches’ employment practices allow ‘ministerial exception’

By Michael J. Brooks
Correspondent, The Alabama Baptist

Modern Baptists are like their colonial ancestors charged by the state with “dissenting religion,” said Nashville attorney Jim Guenther.

Guenther, who shared during Alabama’s Christian Life Commission (CLC) meeting in Prattville on Sept. 25, said, “Roger Williams came to Rhode Island and advocated for religious liberty. But down in Virginia, while Jefferson and Madison began their careers, Baptist ministers were languishing in prison because they were preaching without license by the state church.

“Therefore the First Amendment was necessary and I often speak of it as ‘sufficient’ in every instance to protect our churches,” he said, noting society is changing its lifestyle.

With the changes comes one unresolved issue, Guenther noted, namely, how churches factor religion in their employment practices.

Institutions insist they cannot inculcate doctrine without insuring employees cooperate with the mission, he said.
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits workplace discrimination, including sexual discrimination, and the statute has been used in complaints against religious institutions, Guenther said.

“Supreme Court rulings have found churches free to discriminate for ministerial jobs,” he said. “This is the ministerial exception. … Institutions must have ‘substantial’ control by religious bodies for the exception to occur. But it’s left to government to deal with hiring issues for non-ministerial employees.”

Guenther said “sexual” in Title VII is now broadened to include sexual identity, posing issues of concern to churches and other religious organizations.

‘Benchmark’ case

“In a case we handled, an employee at Oklahoma Baptist University vigorously advocated for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights and was counseled to cease,” Guenther said. “He refused and was terminated. He filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), but it was dismissed due to ‘permissible religious discrimination’ under Title VII. The EEOC sided with our advocacy, but didn’t give reasoning.”
Guenther said this case could be a benchmark for similar cases that may come about when LGBT employees face adverse employment in religious institutions.

“The culture in America has moved,” he said. “There is no pendulum that I can see. Same sex ‘marriage’ is here to stay and LGBT issues will continue. We have to be vigilant to protect our liberty to employ those in harmony with our mission.”

Also sharing during the CLC meeting were state missionaries Jim Swedenburg and Kristy Kennedy and Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program.