Greedy Trial Lawyer
Praise The Lord And Pass The Perks
Category: Seeing Clearly Now
I must have been taking a long nap because I missed an editorial in the New York Times almost a week ago.
Mary Rosati, a novice training to be a nun in Toledo, Ohio, says that after she received a diagnosis of breast cancer, her mother superior dismissed her. If Ms. Rosati had a nonreligious job, she might have won a lawsuit against her diocese (which denies the charge). But a federal judge dismissed her suit under the Americans With Disabilities Act, declining to second-guess the church's "ecclesiastical decision."
I do not have the hesitancy of a federal judge about second-guessing the church's "ecclesiastical decision." At the pit of my greedy stomach I feel the decision is unworthy of the Catholic Church.
The editorial continued with other perks that we provide for organizations which claim to do God's work.
Ms. Rosati's story is one of many that Diana Henriques told in a recent Times series examining the fast-changing legal status of churches and religious-affiliated institutions. The series showed that the wall between church and state is being replaced by a platform that raises religious organizations to a higher legal plane than their secular counterparts.Day care centers with religious affiliations are exempted in some states from licensing requirements. Churches can expand in ways that would violate zoning ordinances if a nonreligious builder did the same thing, and they are permitted, in some localities, to operate lavish facilities, like state-of-the-art gyms, without paying property taxes.
In its expanded form, this principle amounts to an enormous subsidy for religion, in some cases violating the establishment clause of the First Amendment. It also undermines core American values, like the right to be free from job discrimination. It puts secular entrepreneurs at an unfair competitive disadvantage. And it deprives states and localities of much-needed tax revenues, putting a heavier burden on ordinary taxpayers.
After Texas exempted religious day care centers and drug-treatment programs from state licensing, a study found that the "alternatively accredited" facilities had 10 times the rate of abuse and neglect of the others, and several were investigated. In 2001, the Texas Legislature, no enemy of organized religion, did the right thing and ended the exemption.
I do not recall God saying we should treat those who choose to do his work better than those who do the other work required in our society. Maybe I should be Brother Greedy Trial Lawyer.
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