It's pretty long-standing law that, while religious institutions have some freedoms when it comes to hiring, those freedoms have strict boundaries. To wit, restrictions on what constitutions a "religious institution," and for what job we're talking about.
So take the extreme case: it is considered legal (and morally defensible) that someone who is to be ordained and employed as a priest should be required to adhere to Catholic doctrine and represent the Church's values and beliefs. Similarly, it has been argued (with mixed success) that teachers as a Catholic school should adhere to and represent church teachings and morality, even if their topic area is not explicitly religious.
In short, religious institutions (what's included in that is subject to definition) have a right to require orthodoxy in "ministerial" roles, where someone is representing church teaching and authority. That's fairly reasonable, at least in principle. People who are ministers or who serve in a ministerial fashion through the nature of their jobs, are part of that institution's exercise of religious freedom.
But in non-ministerial roles, religious employers have no such latitude. And, in this case, it would seem difficult for the Catholic school to argue that their food service director is acting in a "ministerial" role, without simply asserting that the church has the right to hire or fire anyone based on their beliefs, from food worker to gardener.
Which appears to be what their lawyer is asserting, saying that "Barrett’s presence at the school would have been inconsistent with the school’s catholic message. […] Simply, we request of this court to render a decision in support of our client’s statutory right to make an employment decision based on sincerely held religious beliefs."
The court, in this case, disagrees. The school has not yet decided whether to appeal.
Originally shared by +David Badash:
Breaking: Judge Rules Catholic School Illegally Discriminated By Firing Gay Man It Had Just Hired
A Massachusetts judge finds a Catholic school is required to obey the state’s nondiscrimination laws.
