More on the Weak(ened) Religious Exemption in ENDA

Following up on Rick's post about the new version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA):  I joined with the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom this week to submit written testimony to the House Education and Labor Committee objecting to the narrow (and as Rick observes, substantially narrowed) religious exemption in the bill.  The analysis parallels that in Rick's post.  The concern is not with the general idea of prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (which, speaking for myself, I believe can be warranted in a range of circumstances as a matter of justice or prudence); it's with the lack of a meaningful exemption.  A summary quote from our analysis: "Without substantial exemptions, the effect of this bill will be to pressure and marginalize those organizations and religious adherents who hold [the view that homosexual conduct is immoral], not to promote the diversity that ENDA's proponents claim to affirm."

Tom