Suing For The Right Not To Do Your Job
Say your job is to officiate over marriages and civil partnerships, but you are so blindly committed to what it says in the Bible that you refuse to marry gay couples. What should you do?
a) Find another job, one that you can do, or
b) Sue for the “right” not to do your job.
This person chose option b.
Islington council in London has told Lillian Ladele she could lose her job unless she agrees to preside at the ceremonies. She claims “discrimination or victimisation on grounds of religion or beliefâ€.
As they damn well should. But she feels that she should be given an exempton from doing her full job:
“I feel strongly about maintaining my Christian beliefs and conscience…
I can’t go against what it says in the Bible. I don’t understand why the council can’t use other people who have no problem with the ceremonies.â€
That would be because it is your job to preside over marriages and civil partnerships. You are not working for a religious body, but a public, secular, organisation. Either you do your job, or you go and find another one. There is no two ways about this.
You are not being asked to do anything but preside over their civil ceremony. This is not a religious ceremony, but a state ceremony. It has nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with individuals rights to formalise their relationship with someone they love - who just happens to be of the same gender.
It is very simple. If your job is to do something that your “conscience” - however fucked up it is - objects to you doing, then get another job.
Categories: Ethics - Religion, Religious Blogs
I think you must mean “secular” not “sectarian”.
@Simon Sarmiento: I’ve stuck my oar in and made the change.
(Having said that I can think of plenty of sectarian public organisations !)
I pretty much agree with you here Mr Dragon - though I can’t help thinking “so what?” Surely the real issue is if this person wins their case?
Right now this is just a story about someone wanting to sue - and I back them too. They have every right to sue and if they win then either there is something wrong with the legislation or the courts haven’t done their job - but only in my opinion, of course.
This is an interesting story though - how far should employers hanker to people’s personal beliefs? I agree in this case that this person should just go and get another job. But what about when certain local councils who try and undermine Christmas celebrations amongst their employees? Do you support that action too in the name of secularism? Where do you draw line?
After all, if there other people to do the civil partnerships, shouldn’t a council be flexible to meet the needs of it’s employees? Devil’s advocate, perhaps, but we meet the needs of parents these days and plenty of other groups and work their personal lives around their professional lives. Why not with religious groups too?
Where do you draw line in all this?
I am not sure whether councils have a fixed position on whether they are secular or not anyway. I was always of the understanding that this is a multi-cultural society and that our public bodies are therefore too.