CALIFORNIA: Court Rules That Churches May Fire Employees For Shacking Up

The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is applauding a California appeals court for ruling that a church was allowed to fire an employee because she was living in sin.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that the Red Hill Lutheran Church in Tustin had the right to fire a preschool director for living with her boyfriend while she is unmarried. In upholding a lower-court ruling, the court said the church's decision to fire teacher Sara Henry was acceptable because she violated a church ordinance. The preschool director continued to live with her boyfriend following a failed marriage and had a child out of wedlock. Henry filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the church in 2009.

Religious institutions are generally held to be exempt from the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The court ruled that the exemption applied in this case because the woman was fired for religious reasons.