O
Other_Eric
Guest
Traditional Ang:
Conceivably this man would have an action, not under the First Amendment but under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Even here, an employer is required to reasonably accommodate the religious belief of an employee or prospective employee, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. In this case, with the employee having been identified as an Allstate employee making claims that the company does not happen to agree with, I believe the termination was proper. Allstate has the right to dissociate itself from points of view that it does not share. If the employee was improperly identified as an Allstate employee, then his proper action is against the publication that so identified him, not the company.
This does not touch upon the deeper issue of whether the government should identify a religion, such as Christianity, as a protected category. What does it mean to be Christian? Is it a status – a state of being – a word that typifies one’s membership in a suspect, minority class no different than Black or Female? Let’s consider… To be Black or Female, one need only be Black or Female. Membership in either class is contingent upon nothing. It’s a state of being, which represents entirely neutral qualities (i.e., skin color and/or gender). On the other hand, Christianity is contingent upon something… behavior – a person’s actions – choices made – their “faith.” It’s the end result of choosing to define one’s identity based upon with whom, and how one elects to worship. For myself, I can see no cogent reason why a Christian should have special rights in this instance.
Hi Traditional Ang!
Conceivably this man would have an action, not under the First Amendment but under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Even here, an employer is required to reasonably accommodate the religious belief of an employee or prospective employee, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. In this case, with the employee having been identified as an Allstate employee making claims that the company does not happen to agree with, I believe the termination was proper. Allstate has the right to dissociate itself from points of view that it does not share. If the employee was improperly identified as an Allstate employee, then his proper action is against the publication that so identified him, not the company.
This does not touch upon the deeper issue of whether the government should identify a religion, such as Christianity, as a protected category. What does it mean to be Christian? Is it a status – a state of being – a word that typifies one’s membership in a suspect, minority class no different than Black or Female? Let’s consider… To be Black or Female, one need only be Black or Female. Membership in either class is contingent upon nothing. It’s a state of being, which represents entirely neutral qualities (i.e., skin color and/or gender). On the other hand, Christianity is contingent upon something… behavior – a person’s actions – choices made – their “faith.” It’s the end result of choosing to define one’s identity based upon with whom, and how one elects to worship. For myself, I can see no cogent reason why a Christian should have special rights in this instance.
