- Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- Citation: 507 F.3d 1097 (7th Cir. 2007)
- Decided: 2007
- Church-State Issue: Religion In Public Schools, Freedom Of Religion Religion In Public Schools, Freedom Of Religion
Description
Public-school employees did not have a right to make promotion of religion a part of their jobs, lest they precipitate an Establishment Clause violation.
The Facts: A public-school district declined to renew a contract for one of its guidance counselors after she replaced literature on contraception with pamphlets on abstinence and twice urged students to pray with her. The counselor sued, alleging she had been fired due to her religious beliefs in violation of both Title VII and the Free Exercise Clause.
Free Exercise Clause: As Judge Posner, writing for the Seventh Circuit panel, explained, the counselor "was let go not because of her beliefs but because of her conduct." Citing Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578 (1987), the court stressed that "[t]eachers and other public school employees have no right to make the promotion of religion a part of their job description and by doing so precipitate a possible violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause."
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