TN teacher seeks religious accommodation; LGBTQ books removed
After a teacher objected to using LGBTQ+ material, raising questions about religious accommodations and parental rights, a Tennessee charter school removed more than 20 books from its curriculum.
In February of this year, a first-grade teacher at KIPP Nashville charter school objected to teaching two books featuring same-sex marriage because it conflicted with his religious beliefs. Instead, Eric Rivera asked another teacher in the classroom to read the books.
According to Cliff Martin, senior counsel with First Liberty Institute, the principal threatened Rivera with termination and did not discuss how he could have religious accommodation.
A demand letter from First Liberty attached the final warning Rivera received for choosing not to comply with the material. First Liberty argued Rivera was entitled to an accommodation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and that allowing another teacher to read the books would not create an undue hardship for the school.
Title VII is a federal law under the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits job discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
“We believe there are more Eric Riveras that hold up their hand and say, ‘I would prefer not to teach this material’; we believe that schools are eventually going to have to respect them under Title VII,” Martin told The Center Square.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/tennesse...a2582.html
Why is someone a teacher in the first place if he doesn't want to teach?
After a teacher objected to using LGBTQ+ material, raising questions about religious accommodations and parental rights, a Tennessee charter school removed more than 20 books from its curriculum.
In February of this year, a first-grade teacher at KIPP Nashville charter school objected to teaching two books featuring same-sex marriage because it conflicted with his religious beliefs. Instead, Eric Rivera asked another teacher in the classroom to read the books.
According to Cliff Martin, senior counsel with First Liberty Institute, the principal threatened Rivera with termination and did not discuss how he could have religious accommodation.
A demand letter from First Liberty attached the final warning Rivera received for choosing not to comply with the material. First Liberty argued Rivera was entitled to an accommodation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and that allowing another teacher to read the books would not create an undue hardship for the school.
Title VII is a federal law under the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits job discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
“We believe there are more Eric Riveras that hold up their hand and say, ‘I would prefer not to teach this material’; we believe that schools are eventually going to have to respect them under Title VII,” Martin told The Center Square.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/tennesse...a2582.html
Why is someone a teacher in the first place if he doesn't want to teach?
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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