Finally, a story that combines my intimate knowledge of Southern Baptist religious hangups and employment law. It’s about Benjamin Endres, a Indiana State Police officer who refused to take an assignment enforcing gambling laws because working in a casino violates his religious (Baptist, to be specific) convictions. His boss told him to shut his prayer hole and get to work. He sued. He lost.
To quote:
Endres sued the State Police under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act makes it unlawful for covered employers to discharge any individual “because of such individual’s religion.” He won in the District Court, but last summer the 7th U.S. Circuit reversed and entered final judgment for the State Police. Three judges dissented.…[Said the judge:] “Baptists oppose liquor as well as gambling, Roman Catholics oppose abortion, Jews and Muslims oppose the consumption of pork. … If Endres is right, all of these faiths, and more, must be accommodated by assigning believers to duties compatible with their principles. Does the act require the State Police to assign Unitarians to guard the abortion clinic, Catholics to prevent thefts from liquor stores, and Baptists to investigate claims that supermarkets mis-weigh bacon and shellfish? Must prostitutes be left exposed to slavery or murder at the hands of pimps because protecting them from crime would encourage them to ply their trade and thus offend almost every religious faith?”
I’m with Judge Whitey on this one. Nobody was asking the cop to actually gamble. In fact, his job would have been to make sure that the casinos were not ripping people off. …Well, not more so than they’re allowed to by law. Endres shouldn’t be any more concerned about working in a casino than he would be about working in other unwholesome, sinful environments like the red light district investigating homocides or the corporate boardroom investigating white collar crime.
What’s even more interesting to me, though, is that he sued under the supposition that he was entitled to a “reasonable accomodation” under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I didn’t know that Title VII provided such protection, but after doing some research I see that it does. It’s very similar to how the Americans with Disabilities Act works, in fact.
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