So, would it also be discrimination to prevent me from being a member of the Christian clergy?

Question

Because apparently you don't have to believe in what your work encompasses and if they refuse to hire you, then it's discrimination.

(In reference to the preson studying biology that was fired.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071210/od_nm/evolution_lawsuit_dc
News story.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmOrXkEhZTJPmWOoE.LyfyPsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071210112906AA4BVEf&show=7#profile-info-PCNsRfJPaa
Inspiration for question.

Answer 1

BFOQ: Bonafide Occupational Qualification. Like, to be a hand model, you have to have hands. Does not qualify as discrimination of a handless(disabled) person, to not hire them for the job. This is an example, you can apply it to Christian Clergy pretty easily.

Answer 2

Unless you've got figures to support that statement, I'd have to disagree with out about them 'often' being members of the clergy. Obviously, the job does hold certain attractions for those who want to abuse children - It's a job where they will get access to children and young people, and they have a position of respect and authority which can be misused. The fact that, until very recently, the Catholic church had a policy of hushing up abuse and moving priests to new parishes rather than turning them over to the authorities certainly didn't help!

Answer 3

Closer analogies include being fired as a navigator for thinking that the world is flat, fired as an astronomer for thinking that the earth is the center of the solar system, fired as a politician for thinking that aliens secrety control government, fired from being a doctor because you believe that illness isn't caused by germs, etc. And, in such situations, you deserve to be fired, in that you cannot do your job effectively. Sometimes, depending on what you are required to do, you may not be able to do your job at all (for instance, the doctor that doesn't believe in germs). Why you would be allowed to do that, for non-discrimination's sake, is just bizarre.

Answer 4

Wow, a blantantly discriminatory question.
There are many Christians that strictly adhere to the Bible and also believe in Evolution.
While I think that he has a point, and a case...I find it interest he is now working at Jeryy Falwell's University.
I wonder if this is politicially motivated.

Answer 5

I would have fired the guy, too. Hahn studies a particular protein family in multiple species, not just zebrafish; he publishes papers with titles like "Unexpected diversity of aryl hydrocarbon receptors in non-mammalian vertebrates: insights from comparative genomics." He does modern developmental biology, which is so tightly wrapped up in evolutionary theory they're becoming indistinguishable. How do you go off to do a post-doc in a lab without first reading up on the work, getting excited about it all, and planning to invest yourself in it? Abraham had to have read and understood the prior work of the lab, or he shouldn't have taken the job on. Announcing that he didn't like evolution is comparable to showing up in a fish lab and announcing that he didn't like to get his hands wet. It's like taking a job as a stockbroker and denouncing capitalism and refusing to make a profit. It's like wanting to work as a carpenter but declaring a deep-seated fear of hammers and saws.

If he thinks he can get a half-mil for wrongful termination on this, I'm going to march down to the local fundie church and demand a job as youth pastor, which I will prosecute by explaining the absurdity of god-belief to the little kids in Sunday School, and then I'll sue when they fire me. This isn't simply firing someone for incidental, private beliefs—it's firing him for practices that actually conflict with the stated purpose of the job

Answer 6

All of the news reports I'm finding boil down to he wrote a letter to his boss refusing to work on what he was hired to work on.

If this even goes to court the trial will revolve around his own letter.

Answer 7

He applied for a job where he had to use and study evolution... and then he tells his boss that he doesn't believe in evolution and could he avoid working on evolution based research.

That's stupidity X square.

But to answer your question, you would have to be Danish for that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorkild_Grosb%C3%B8ll

Answer 8

yes, in more ways than one because if your qualifiied to do the job then you should be hired as long as you do your job good and professional and also it would be a shame to deny you from ever being converted!

Answer 9

Just go through the four years of school, and we'll see what happens.

Answer 10

i had an english teacher that was an atheist. but he was an ordained minister, because he was a skydiver, and he wanted to be able to marry people during a dive