To the Editor:
Re: “Can Religious Schools Still Discriminate?” (July 8, 2021)
I find it a disgrace that your reporters accuse Bishop Marshall (a Catholic school!) of discrimination because the headmaster refused to hire a lesbian teacher who is married to a woman. All the Abrahamic religions have survived unchanged for thousands of years and should not be subject to societal shifts and modernistic whims.
Freedom of religion is one of the most sacred liberties in this country. The Bible teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, period. I wonder if there would be the same outrage if an Islamic school in the United States insisted on hiring only practicing Muslims as teachers. Somehow, it seems that the woke crowd always gives other faiths a break but is outraged when it’s about Christians trying to adhere to their religious principles.
What’s next, will the Catholic Church be forced to endorse abortion or hire female priests? I’m sure with Joe Biden’s “Equality Act,” that’s exactly what’s coming down the pike.
Shannara Johnson, Morrisville
Editor’s note: According to the July 8 News & Citizen story (which first appeared in VTDigger), the Bishop John A. Marshall School in Morrisville recently refused to hire Meredith Sandherr as a teacher. School officials reportedly told Sandherr, who is a woman married to a woman, “Given what you’ve shared, I do not believe you would be able to sign our employment contract, based on its terms.”
Due to recent U.S. Supreme Court and Vermont court decisions, private religious schools may soon be allowed to receive public tuition funds. Leaders in the Vermont Senate have pledged to recommend legislation that would prevent tuition payments to private schools, and especially to schools that (they say) practice discrimination, including refusing to employ openly gay teachers.