Hiring Rights
“Hiring rights” refers to the all-important right of a church or other religious employer to employ those who serve its mission. Christian Legal Society believes all persons have the inherent dignity of being made in God’s image. In addition, Scripture teaches that God chooses to work through His people, fallible but filled with His Holy Spirit. Conversely, those with different beliefs are entitled to hold them but are not entitled to work for the religious employer, including churches, who seeks staff and volunteers who share the same convictions and mission as the religious employer.
The same logic and law support the right of religious employers to hold their staff to religion-based standards of conduct. Churches are not looking for perfect employees, just those who not only affirm the creed and also agree to try to follow in their personal lives the conduct standards they aspire to. The claims of Christ apply to the totality of one’s life, not just where one goes on a Sunday morning. It colors one’s understanding of right and wrong, including marriage and sexual identity. It animates concern for the impoverished, the unhoused, refugees, orphans, and those with disabilities. Again, everyone can believe and behave differently, but the religious employer may seek those who share its beliefs and try to live them.
Hiring rights are at the forefront of the struggle for religious freedom in the United States today. May a Roman Catholic school hire only believers as math teachers? May a church denominational headquarters require that all their employees be church members in good standing? May a faith-based foster care agency require that its social workers be Christian? May a religious relief and development agency require that its employees try to abide by its religious standards, including those on heterosexual marriage? May a Christian shelter for the unhoused hire only those who have a faith they can share personally with the homeless clients?
The bedrock of religious hiring rights is, of course, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Applying to a church a law against discriminating in employment imposes not only a substantial burden on its free exercise of religion, but also on its autonomy, its free speech, and its right of association. Federal legislation also protects the employment rights of religious persons (e.g., Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 or “RFRA”). State RFRAs and state constitutions also may guarantee these rights.
In a sense, an organization’s mission integrity is completely dependent on its leaders, employees, and volunteers; it is only as strong as its weakest link. That explains why it is only common sense that an abortion clinic may decline to hire a pro-life nurse who regularly volunteers on her time off as a sidewalk counselor in front of clinics. Similarly, if a religious organization believes that the indwelling of the Spirit of Jesus in all its staff is vital to the success of the organization as a whole, then the organization should be able to select those who share the faith and seek to live accordingly. The day that this becomes no longer true would be the day that the organized Body of Christ either goes underground or becomes ineffective.
