Seventh-day Adventist Church Files Federal Lawsuit Against Maryland
9 October 2024 |
The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Maryland. The lawsuit challenges the Maryland Supreme Court’s August 2023 interpretation of the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act which limited religious organizations’ ability to hire and fire employees based on their sexual orientation.
It is a standard requirement of the SDA Church to expect employees to uphold the basic tenets of their faith, which includes “abstaining from tobacco and immoral conduct including but not limited to engaging in pornographic activities, child sexual abuse, incest, fornication, adultery, and homosexual practices.” In addition, the church has a universal requirement that those hired, whether as a receptionist in their church offices or as a pastor, must have good standing within their local church community and uphold the moral and ethical standards aligned with church employment.
Since it has been the official position of the Seventh-day Adventist Church not to support LGBTQ+ lifestyles, they fear the Maryland Supreme Court might interfere with their right as a religious organization to fire any individual who does not uphold the expectations clearly stated in the application process. The Baltimore Banner states:
“Lawyers for the Seventh-day Adventist Church argued in a complaint that the First Amendment allows churches and affiliated religious organizations to ask its employees to ‘uphold their religious beliefs, to support their religious mission and to strengthen their community of believers.’ Under federal law, the complaint reads, states and civil courts are not to interfere with the autonomy of churches.”
The LGBTQ+ community has been vocal in the past regarding their right as believers to work for their church, and they fear this loophole might set a bad precedent. Meanwhile, the SDA Church is wary of government interference in religious organizations, citing their First Amendment rights and the dangers of intersecting church and state. In addition, though many individual Adventists have their own opinions on LGBTQ+ matters, the official church has never hidden its stance on the matter. It considers it to be all-encompassing with their moral and religious standards. Because their employees are employees of a religious organization, they are required not only to represent their profession but also to uphold a spiritual standard in alignment with their faith, intersecting a complex personal and professional expectation alien to a secular workforce.
In the same way, there is the fear that siding with the church might open a door for harsher discrimination from other religious organizations to be allowed. Depending on the interpretation, allowing religious organizations to fire employees for failing to uphold certain ethical and moral standards could lead to an abuse of power.
The court ruling could be a make-or-break issue for both sides, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, waits with bated breath for the Maryland Supreme Court’s decision.
