This Religious School Says Michigan’s ‘Civil Rights Laws’ Violate Its Right to Operate According to Its Beliefs

It seems that all three branches of government are sold out to the ‘transgender’ agenda.

There was a time in this country when society sought to protect children — vulnerable and impressionable — from predatory adults. Parents taught their children not to keep secrets from them and to speak up if an adult harmed them in any way. Children must be taught to go to their parents if any adult touches them in an inappropriate way.

Now parents take their children to homosexual “pride” parades, where perversion is on full display. Children sit at the feet of men dressed garishly in mockery of women while reading storybooks. With all of this deviancy accepted as normal, how is a child to know what is appropriate and inappropriate now?

Safeguarding apparently is a thing of the past.

For parents who do want to keep that safeguarding in place, it’s an uphill battle — even in religious schools. Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Michigan and its school, Sacred Heart Academy, seek to hire individuals who share a belief in church doctrine and speak a message that aligns with church doctrine. Religious schools also want to teach that marriage is the union between one man and one woman and that homosexuality is a sin.

The Michigan Supreme Court interpreted the word “sex” in state anti-discrimination law to include sexual orientation and “gender identity.” Now Sacred Heart is required to hire people who don’t believe the tenets of the faith. Worst than this, such schools must “refrain from articulating Catholic beliefs in teaching its students and when advertising the school to prospective students or job applicants,” according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

Isn’t the point of a faith-based school to teach the faith and inspire like-minded prospective students to attend?

Sacred Heart filed a lawsuit in 2023 against the state to obtain a religious exemption. ADF represents the parish. An excerpt:

The Michigan Legislature amended the Michigan Civil Rights Act to cover sexual orientation and gender identity but provided no protection for religious organizations that believe marriage is between one man and one woman and that the immutability of sex irrefutably supports human flourishing.

Jewish and Islamic religious freedom groups filed amicus briefs in support of Sacred Heart.

A lower court dismissed Sacred Heart’s case. On Tuesday, the school asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to allow the case to continue.

“The Constitution is clear: Religious schools are free to operate according to their beliefs,” said Cody Barnett, the ADF lawyer who argued in court. “A federal district court—as well as the U.S. Supreme Court—have concluded that government officials can’t target faith-based organizations simply for adhering to their religious beliefs.”

Isn’t it curious how secularists interpret civil rights laws in a way that does not respect religious freedom, which the founders explicitly guaranteed? Why do the mere feelings of a man with the sexual fetish of being a “woman” trump religious beliefs opposed to homosexuality and “transgenderism” — and the right to openly practice those beliefs? They do not.

Photo credit: Alliance Defending Freedom