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The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided that under the First Amendment churches are entitled to a “ministerial exception” and thus dismissed a wrongful termination suit against the church. In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC, the Court recognizes that the ministerial exception applies beyond the head of a religious congregation to others, such as the teacher in this case, who are viewed as ministers or those carrying the message of the Church.

Chief Justice John Roberts stated that, “By requiring the Church to accept a minister it did not want, such an order would have plainly violated the Church’s freedom under the Religion Clauses to select its own ministers.”

This ruling is clear to completely protect the church. It states “The purpose of the exception is not to safeguard a church’s decision to fire a minister only when it is made for a religious reason. The exception instead ensures that the authority to select and control who will minister to the faithful – a matter ‘strictly eccle¬siastical,’ is the church’s alone.”

This decision is a landmark ruling by the High Court that recognizes the strong protections of the First Amendment Religion Clause with regards to church autonomy. The EEOC’s extreme view that churches have no right to control who will communicate their message would allow the government to control churches. Churches have the right to decide who to employ to communicate their religious message. 

Read our News Release for more details.

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