Monday, April 13, 2009
Church Autonomy Cases in Europe
As we deal with questions about the scope of church autonomy over employment decisions here in America, similar questions are in play in Europe, where several cases from Germany are now before the European Court of Human Rights. This page, from the Strasbourg Consortium, has information on the cases, which involve the dismissals of pastors, Salvation Army officers, a Catholic parish organist/choirmaster, a Protestant parish school kindergarten teacher, and a Mormon Church public-affairs official -- some of them dismissed for sexual misconduct, some for manifesting conflicting religious beliefs, some just for doing their jobs poorly. The Strasbourg Consortium is a joint project of several law-religion-studies centers in Europe and America, and their website looks like a great overall resource for comparative religious-freedom issues.
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2009/04/church-autonomy-cases-in-europe.html