Last month, the BYU Law Review published our article entitled Religious Employment and the Tensions between Liberty and Equality. We appreciate this opportunity to offer a five-part series summarizing the article's key points.
Religious employment is a vital aspect of religious freedom. A church needs employees who are fully committed to the church's religious mission and who live by its religious standards. Religious fidelity is indispensable to a religious organization's success. Competence alone will not do.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 contains an exemption for religious employers. Sometimes called Section 702, it provides that Title VII does not apply to a religious employer "with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion." Deciding when it applies has divided federal circuits and other courts.
