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Bethany Taylor
Professor Veronica Jayne
English 1201 Online
30 September 2014
The Ministerial Exception
Growing up, I was almost always in church on Sunday mornings because my father was
the pastor. I was pretty active in the church by playing guitar in the church band and attending
youth group regularly. On day at youth group, our main leader told us that he was taking a
break from his position and it was very possible that he might not be coming back for good. We
all were hurt, sad, and confused. I asked my father about the issue and why everyones favorite
youth leader might be quitting. My father plainly answered that until he can get it right in his
marriage, then he cannot continue being a youth leader. No one knew it, but our youth leader
had been having an affair with another woman in our church and because of his adultery, he
wasnt the role model he was supposed to be. I honestly struggled with this because I didnt
understand why he was forced to step down if no one knew about the affair, and didnt affect
his job as a minister. This is a prime example of the ministerial exception with in the church. My
father as a Pastor wanted someone who would carry out a certain role as a leader of his youth
group.
According to Adam Liptak in his article in the New York Times called Religious Groups
Given Exception to Work Bias Law, the ministerial exception [was added] to employment
discrimination laws, saying that churches and other religious groups must be free to choose and
dismiss their leaders without government interference (Liptak). Because of this exception,
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churches, religious schools, and other religious organization can fire and hire its employees
outside of any anti-discrimination laws. This gives religious institutions the freedom to dictate
who works for them based on their individual expectations and regulations. This exception
protects different religious organizations to practice their First Amendment right to hire faculty
based on their beliefs even regardless of any discrimination laws they may go against. For
examples, these institutions can fire workers based on things such as gender, sexual
orientation, etcas long as it abides within their belief system.
The problem with the ministerial exception is that it can be hard to determine who is a
minister and who is not within these organizations? Within churches it is a little clearer, but
there are organizations that are considered religious without actually teaching or participating
fully within the religion, such as soup kitchens, activity centers, bookstores, and schools. A lot of
these workers do not feel that they are ministers and a lot of problems arise when they are
asked to resign resulting in feelings that they are discriminated against. It causes conflict and
such situations end up within the court systems to determine what qualifies a person to be a
minister or not. This makes it difficult because these groups use the title of minister, but by
their workers might have duties that barely reflect such a title. It can be hard to determine if an
organization has the right to use the ministerial exception. How does this problem get fixed?
The ministerial exception could be improved by better defining what exactly qualifies as a
minister, making organizations specify their mission and expectation, and keeping the same
standard for everyone to keep the legal matters fair.
Based on the Marriam-Webster dictionary definition, a minister is a person whose job
involves leading church services, performing religious ceremonies (such as marriages), and
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providing spiritual or religious guidance to other people. This definition seems simple in
defining what a minister may be, but there are job titles where a worker might be providing
spiritual or religious guidance to other people without actually realizing that they are
considered a minister. In the Hosanna-Tabor case, teacher, Cheryl Perich, tried to sue the
Lutheran school she worked at for asking her to resign after coming back from a disability leave.
Perich was diagnosed with necropsy. Because she wanted to sue and take the issue into legal
matters, the school reported that she wasnt following their procedure by settling the dispute
in house. This resulted in her being fired and a court case she would not be victorious in
(Liptak).
Perich had argued that she didnt understand how the school had the right to do
something like this and went to The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to sue
against the school causing her to get fired. The issue was that Perich didnt feel like she should
have had the ministerial exception used against her because she taught mostly secular subjects.
She did however, participate and lead religious activities. About forty-five minutes every day in
Perichs classroom was devoted to religious subjects, prayer, and leading chapel once a week.
She was ordained and had to go through Christian classes to actually get her job. Because of
this time during her week, she is classified as a minister. There are cases of teachers being let
go because they were pregnant outside of wedlock. In one case, a teacher was fired for being
artificially inseminated before getting married. These teachers won their cases because even
though they taught for Christian schools, they didnt have any religious duties. This makes the
ministerial exception difficult because it is hard to exactly distinguish who and who isnt a
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minister. It would greatly improve if the tile of whether or not an employee was or wasnt a
minister would greatly clear up this confusion.
To also clear up confusion, religious institutions need to make their mission clear and
their expectations for employees known. If an organization is clear on wanting their employees
and workers to follow controversial beliefs, such as not engaging in premarital sex,
homosexuality, drinking, etc, then they should be clear about each requirement as well as
ensuring that each person knows the regulations. The interest of society in the enforcement of
employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important, But so, too, is the interest of
religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith and carry out their
mission, says Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. after determining a legal case for the matter
(Liptak). Each religious group should have the right to their own religious belief system and
desire for those within the group to follow and represent standards set by the group. As the
court stated in Douglas Laycocks article, HosannaTabor and the Ministerial Exception:
The purpose of the exception is not to safeguard a churchs decision to fire a minister
only when it is made for a religious reason. The exception instead ensures the authority
to select and control who will minister to the faithful a matter strictly ecclesiastical
is the churchs alone (Laycock 852).
Based on the First Amendment, it only seems constitutional to allow churches the
freedom to control who runs and carries out its missions and beliefs. Perich was ordained a
minister and took religious classes to become a teacher for the school. She also had time during
her day that was dedicated to religious subjects and prayer. It is not surprising that she would
be considered a minister. What was surprising about her court case is that because she
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wanted to take her dispute into legal mattes, she was breaking their doctrine by not settling the
issue within the church.
In other cases, the teachers that were less like a minister and didnt have main duties
that included religious activities of any sort. Yet, they were fired as if they were ministers
because they were expected to know the expectations of the schools they worked. If these
teachers were more aware of the rules they desire their workers to abide by, the cases might
have been prevented. This would ensure a more fair work environment because the religious
organization would have workers that understood and complied with their goals as a whole.
Being fair is also an issue with the ministerial exception is the feeling of unfairness that
employees feel. Because there are religious beliefs involved, things like sexual orientation,
gender, and other things that would normally be covered by anti-discrimination laws are no
longer protected. A religious organization can refuse to hire a woman simply because they may
not believe women can be in leadership positions. In one case, Terri James was asked if she was
pregnant and then was let go because it was outside of wedlock (Huffington Post). The school
then offered her husband a job after knowing that he had been sexually active before marriage.
She felt unfairly discriminated against because she was a woman and would have to be openly
known about her pregnancy outside of wedlock. She felt ashamed. To prevent the ministerial
exception to be use wrongly by religious institutions, it is important that the standards set for
one employee remains the same for the next. This would make the exception fairer within the
religious group and help remove feelings of injustice for former workers dismissed.
The Ministerial exception along with the First Amendment is used to protect religious
organizations, schools, groups, and churches to control what workers they employ and how
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those workers may conduct themselves. The problem arises when there is confusion between
who is a secular worker, and who is a minister. To make the ministerial exception stronger
and more precise, the definition of minister needs to be clear. There should be specific
guidelines of what duties make a minister. Along with better defining who is a minister, the
missions and expectations of these workers should be clear to prevent future disagreements. If
it is clear what an employee may or may not do, then there is no argument if such regulations
were broken. Lastly, with such precise regulations, it should remain fair between employees.
One minister should not be held at higher expectations within the group than another. This
would prevent any unwanted feelings of discrimination that cant be justified because of the
ministerial exception. The ministerial exception is a good case because it protects religious
groups to freely choose who they want to use to function, but it becomes a problem because
people feel wronged. The ministerial exception is a great idea, but overall needs more clarity
and strengthening.









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Works Cited
Bindley, Katherine. "Teri James, Pregnant Woman Allegedly Fired For Premarital Sex, Sues
Christian School." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 13
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Trafficking Victims Protection ACT.--Headley v. Church of Scientology." Harvard Law
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Gregory, Raymond Encountering religion in the workplace: the legal rights and responsibilities
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Liptak, Adam. "Religious Groups Given Exception to Work Bias Law." The New York
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Ng, Christina. "Texas Teacher Fired for Unwed Pregnancy Offered to Get Married." ABC News.
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2014.
Totenberg, Nina. "Justices Rule Ministers Exempt From Anti-Bias Laws." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 15
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