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Less than a week before Marquis LaFortune was supposed to marry her fiance, the principal of the downtown Catholic high school where she worked as an English teacher called her into his office to warn that a “scandal” was looming. |
The scandal, the deacon informed the bride-to-be, was her coming marriage.
LaFortune married anyway, but now she’s the one who feels scandalized. Fired from Central Catholic High School for the Nov. 22 wedding, the 25-year-old has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and wants to sue the school.
The reason for her termination turns on a theological tenet. According to Catholic doctrine, participants in a marriage must be an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. LaFortune told the principal that her fiance had been divorced — a proceeding not recognized by the Catholic Church.
The deacon was concerned with whether the first marriage of LaFortune’s fiance, Benjamin Stakes, had been declared invalid by a Catholic tribunal and thereby annulled. His concern, however, did not sit well with LaFortune, who refused to resign from her job or seek an annulment — a process that could reach to Rome and take more than a year.
“I would have resigned if I’d felt like I’d done something wrong,” LaFortune said last week, adding that the conflict put a strain on her wedding preparations.
“As a general matter, religious institutions are free to engage in religious discrimination in employment,” said Ira C. Lupu, a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. “The question is, are they applying the policy consistently? I think the point about consistency is very important.”
Theocracy sucks under the best of circumstances.
Where’s the story here? She took a job with a church that has social rules that are part of that institutions beliefs and theology. She violated them and therefore should be fired. No one forced her to take the job. I know that the liberals would like to force churches to hire transsexual satan worshipers as greeters but that aint gonna happen….Next story….
I just saw Mr Fusions post: I have a question after reading it. Why are liberals so damn stupid?
# 21 fedup said, “Why are liberals so damn stupid?”
Churchill answered that question long ago.
#21 – fedup,
<Purina Troll Chow: made from 100% ground hobbit and hobbit byproducts>
Nice argument, well thought out and concise. Is that what they taught you on the debate team?
</Purina Troll Chow: made from 100% ground hobbit and hobbit byproducts>
Many apologies to the non-trolls on the site. I just had a bunch of troll chow leftover that I needed to get rid of.
Scottie, you forgot the [TM] after Purina
J/P=?
#19, Phydeau and #16, Scott,
I disagree. Ignorance is not bliss. It is dangerous.
An anology to ignorance is alcohol. Drink all you like, but when you wake up the next day all the world’s problems will exist.
Ignorance gave us two terms of the worst Presidency in history. Ignorance gave us sun worshipers, and gods, and the supernatural. Ignorance gave us overfishing, clear cutting, acid rain, and Humvees. Ignorance gave us leeches and bleeding, butter on burns, and intercourse with a virgin for AIDs.
Yes, there is willful ignorance and common ignorance. They both are just as dangerous and harmful though. Firing someone because s/he didn’t get an annulment even though the bible points out that so many Jewish leaders had many (upwards of 1000) wives is retarded. And dangerous.
#24 – J/P: Oops. You’re right.
#25 – Mr. Fusion,
The ignorance is blissful for the ignorant, not the enlightened. How many of those problems are recognized by those who created them and who voted for Bush?
The danger you describe is of course real. But, the ignorant do not see it coming. They still do not feel the pain. They are still blissful.
It is those of us who are not ignorant who feel the pain and see the danger … and are worried rather than blissful.
The blissfully ignorant will enjoy their pathetic lives right up until the anvil hits them on the head.
#27, Scott,
While we quibble, I’m thinking of those GM assembly line workers in St. Louis that voted for Bush and are now out of a job. They were willfully ignorant of the damage that Bush had done and would continue to do.
A lot of people like to be stoned or drunk too. They don’t want to know. The pain will be there for them when they sober up.
Those who are ignorant and strongly want to know though should not be included. I can’t tell you every detail about human physiology but when my physician tells me something, I acknowledge his advanced learning. The same with Climate Change.
Each religious group does it’s own thing. If you want to play inside the group you play by the groups rules. She knew that and decided the rules didn’t apply to her and lost.
So… participants in a marriage must be an unmarried man and an unmarried woman – neither divorced.
Boy, I hope we get it right when we amend the constitution. It’s so important that we do and the Pope is – after all – the vicar of Christ on Earth. So when we open our Bibles to copy them into the Constitution we really should defer to His Holiness to get it right.
The tenants of the catholic Church are no mystery, so this is a snoozer.
Plus, I suggest you learn the definition of ‘Theocracy’ and how that differs from a private religious school.
#10 – cme1ca
>>But they do receive funding. Like all religions
>>(except the church of Elvis) they enjoy tax-free
>>status as they’re ‘faith based’.
That is not “funding” in the sense of Dumbya’s execrable White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI), in which actual money is GIVEN to religious entities to promote their own peculiar brands of faith/ fantasy/ domination.
All “religious” organizations are tax-exempt, including Scientology. Whether you like that or don’t like it is unrelated to this story.
The Catholic Club has their rules, and if you want to join, you have to play by them (or else do your mischief on the down-low, like most of them do).
If you want to work for the KKK, don’t marry a Magic Negress. If you want to work for Focus on the Family, don’t marry someone of the same sex. And if you want to work for the Catholic Church, pay somebody off and get an annullment.
I wonder how barack the magic negro will handle such serious constitutional violations?
#34 – FuckUp
You’re so adorable!! You thought people were laughing with you, so you continue in the same vein.
Titter titter!
Ah my little jester mr mustard.
#36 – FuckUp
Keep going…. you’re doing great… don’t stop now
Yet more proof that religion is ridiculous, out-of-date, and makes everyone involved dumber.
I’m sure Jesus would condone the hateful and spiteful takes on religion that his so-called followers use.
Or not.
I’m a Catholic. I always laugh when the clergy start moaning and wondering why people leave the Catholic faith for other denominations. Hello! It’s the inflexible and intolerant “our way or the highway” rules!
I have never understood why unmarried clergy get to make the rules on marriage! Maybe because so many of ‘em are sexually frustrated and take it out on altar boys?
I’d better shut up… maybe if I start complaining publicly and my posts are monitored by my diocese, I might get excommunicated.
just like a whinny ass liberal. Know the rules going in but then because they think they are special and rules dont apply to them they scream when they find out that yes, the rules do apply. This shit isnt rocket science. dont like catholic rules then fucking dont work for the catholic church. How fucking hard is that figure out…?