Suing For The Right Not To Do Your Job

From the desk of thunderdragon ·May 18, 2008 at 2:37 pm · Filed under Ethics - Religion, Religious Blogs

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 belief”.

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.”

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.

The ThunderDragon

Comments (3)