Local Christian School Fires Teachers For Being Catholic KTLA News
3:29 PM PDT, August 11, 2010 Local Christian School Fires Teachers For Being Catholic CORONA, Calif. -- Differences in religious belief and biblical interpretation led a religious school to fire four teachers and seven other workers. Many of the fired employees belong to the Catholic church which has key teachings that conflict with those of the conservative evangelical Crossroads Christian Schools and the adjacent Crossroads Christian Church. The evangelical megachurch has about 8,000 members and is among the Inland area's largest churches. Last year, the school came under the umbrella of the church after about a decade of autonomy. The move prompted a closer evaluation of the religious beliefs of the employees, many who had been with the school for as long as 22 years Most of the fired employees were Catholics, according to the Press-Enterprise, though it appears there was at least one Lutheran and an Episcopalian as well. Sign up for KTLA 5 Breaking News Email Alerts In addition to teachers, the fired employees included a teacher's aide, a playground supervisor and an accountant. Beth Frobisher, the superintendent of Crossroads Christian School, said that the employees' beliefs were at odds with what is taught in the Crossroads church. "How can the school be a ministry of the church if what is spoken and taught into the hearts of the children isn't consistent with what is taught in the church?" Frobisher said. Eleven families pulled their children out of the 583-student Riverside County school because of the firings, Frobisher said. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Irvine Law School, said federal and state laws prohibit religious-belief requirements in schools, even if religion is infused throughout the curricula. The only exception is religious-education classes. "They cannot discriminate in employment based upon religion," he said. But Thomas Cathey, director of legal-legislative issues for the Colorado-based Association of Christian Schools International, said the school has a religious institution exemption in federal law and has a right to fire employees whose religious beliefs aren't in sync. Crossroads Christian, which offers classes for students preschool-through-10th grade, is part of the association. ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
