CURE News and Clergy Blog News and Commentary for Christians
The East Baton Rouge Parish Library in Louisiana fired Luke Ash, a pastor and former library services technician, for refusing to refer to his female colleague with male pronouns.
Christians know that bearing false witness is a sin. We are not called to participate in the sexual fantasies of others as they pretend to be the opposite sex.
Liberty Counsel (LC) sent a demand letter to the library on Ash’s behalf, explaining that library administrators violated his rights. An excerpt (emphasis in original PDF):
Liberty Counsel hereby demands that the Library Board reinstate Mr. Ash to the position from which he was improperly terminated and revise its unconstitutional pronoun policy and practices to respect the religious free exercise rights of all employees.
Please be advised that Liberty Counsel is assisting Mr. Ash with the filing of a Title VII religious discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice Task Force for Elimination of Anti-Christian Bias. It is in the interests of justice to quickly resolve this matter.
So-called “transgender” policies — in this case an “inclusivity policy” — does not include protecting the rights of Christians. When employees require others to lie, violating their religious or moral beliefs, the policy is invalid.
Ash told the library he wasn’t going to lie. The library penalized him for refusing. LC said the Ash was a probationary employee, and the library claimed he’d committed “infractions” but never written up.
“The library also made no attempt to accommodate his religious beliefs as required by Title VII law.”
Shouldn’t “inclusivity” include Christians? Christian beliefs don’t require anyone to lie. Such policies were made to accommodate one particular set of people to the exclusion of others.
“Employers cannot force people to choose between their faith and their livelihood,” said Mat Staver, LC founder and chairman. “The library has a chance to reinstate Pastor Ash and rectify this potentially costly mistake.”
