Free Speech And Religious Freedom Endangered By Federal Court In Michigan
A judge ruled against a Catholic parish and a Christian medical practice.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed notices of appeal this week to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in two separate legal challenges to Michigan laws that unconstitutionally require religious organizations to hire employees who don’t share their beliefs and prevents them from serving their communities consistent with their beliefs. The two appeals were filed on behalf of Christian Healthcare Centers, a Michigan faith-based medical nonprofit, and, in a separate case, on behalf of a Catholic school run by Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, a Grand Rapids-based parish, and several of the school’s families.
See here the August 22 dismissal issued by Judge Jane M. Beckering of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
Both Christian Healthcare Centers and Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, in their respective lawsuits, are challenging Michigan’s civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The laws are at the center of both lawsuits: Christian Healthcare Centers v. Nessel and Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish v. Nessel.
“Michigan officials should respect religious organizations’ constitutionally protected freedom to follow the very faith that has motivated them to serve their communities,” said Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch of Alliance Defending Freedom - a nonprofit law firm.
“Christian Healthcare Centers, for example, should be free to continue its vibrant outreach to the communities it serves through its low-cost, high-quality medical care. And Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish has faithfully served Grand Rapids families for more than a century, and its school provides a rich academic and spiritual environment for hundreds of children. We hope the 6th Circuit will respect their freedoms protected by the First Amendment so that they can continue to serve their communities without being illegitimately subjected to a state law that could undermine their faith and mission.”
Sacred Heart and Christian Healthcare Center cited the First and Fourteenth Amendments, which provide freedom of religion and equal protection, respectively.
Sacred Heart and Christian Healthcare Centers have filed an appeal.
In December 2022, St. Joseph Catholic Church in St. Johns and Sacred Heart Academy in Grand Rapids filed separate lawsuits, saying that Michigan's reformed Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), which included sexual orientation as a protected law, interfered with their religious rights and internal management, including teaching and the hiring of teachers.
Federal Judge Beckering in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids ruled in favor of the Michigan Supreme Court’s upholding this year will continue to stand. Therefore, under Michigan law, a religious school or institution could be prosecuted for firing or denying a job to a person whose lifestyle does not accord with the teachings of the Catholic faith. Beckering wrote, however, that ELCRA “does not fail to recognize religious freedoms,” Beckering wrote in her dismissal of St. Joseph’s suit. In dismissing Sacred Heart's suit, she claimed that the state law does not pose an imminent threat to the church and school.
She also denied reconsideration of her earlier dismissal of a similar lawsuit filed by Christian Healthcare Centers.
Attorney General Dana Nessel released a statement, claiming that the lawsuits were “unsupported by facts.”
“Under Michigan law, religious freedoms are already taken into consideration under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act when assessing discrimination claims,” Nessel said. “Our state’s residents can rest assured that Michigan’s recently enacted protections for the LGBTQ+ community will be enforced to the fullest extent as the constitution permits,” she added.
According to a release from Alliance Defending Freedom - a nonprofit law firm of counsel to Sacred Heart - "Michigan’s laws require Christian Healthcare Centers to hire people who do not share their faith and to provide cross-sex hormones contrary to its religious beliefs and medical judgment and address people with pronouns that that are inconsistent with their biological sex. All of this violates the ministry’s religious beliefs and undermines its ability to provide safe and affordable healthcare to the needy and the rest of the community."
Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish was founded more than a century ago by Polish immigrants. The parish-run academy exists to support parents in forming their children in the Catholic faith by providing a classical Catholic education and serves nearly 400 children from pre-K through 12th grade. The parents who joined the lawsuit all have children attending Sacred Heart Academy.
ADF said in its release, "For the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish and its school, Sacred Heart Academy, Michigan’s laws require them to hire faculty and staff who lead lives and hold beliefs contrary to the Catholic faith, speak messages about marriage and sexuality that violate Church doctrine, and refrain from articulating Catholic beliefs in teaching its students and when advertising the school to prospective students or job applicants. Additionally, by preventing Sacred Heart from operating its school consistent with its beliefs, state officials are violating the rights of parents—including the three families who have joined the lawsuit—who specifically chose to send their children to Sacred Heart Academy because the school aligns with their values and religious beliefs."