Law Commons^™

Divinity Vs. Discrimination: Curtailing The Divine Reach Of Church Authority, Whitney Ellenby

Golden Gate University Law Review

Church authority to practice gender discrimination in employment decisions represents the collision of principles of religious liberty on one hand, and the need to eradicate invidious discrimination on the other. In order to secure the free exercise of religion, the First Amendment prohibits legislation which interferes with or significantly abridges religious belief or conduct. To the extent that employment decisions represent the extension of religious belief, churches have a strong claim of immunity from judicial review of their decisions. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 thus exempts religious entities from civil liability when their discriminatory conduct is …