Hey Fletch …  This week we had a leadership discussion around the Equality Act.  Our senior pastor brought this topic up in an elder meeting. It raised some questions worth answering or trying to answer. Our head of school is leading the way internally to understand how we should address our written policies or theological statements. Your input?

Fletch—The Equality Act has passed the US House but not the Senate. The views on it are diverse. The Baptist Standard notes:

Though in its current form the Equality Act would add new protected characteristics to the Civil Rights Act and Fair Housing Act, it also would leave the religious exemptions to those laws in place.

Still, the Equality Act would bring some changes for churches. While churches are not generally considered places of public accommodation, they will need to remain vigilant in connecting the rental of their facilities to the church’s religious mission and behaving in a manner that doesn’t put them in competition with secular rental venues.

National Public Ratio also has a piece on the Act. NPR cites:

“The Equality Act as written actually is devastating to the institutions that I represent,” says Shirley Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, institutions that engage in racial discrimination can be barred from receiving federal funds. The Equality Act would extend that provision to cover discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Whether the act passes or not, you are currently under the current Civil Rights Act and Fair Housing Act. 

With regard to staff, Pastors are clearly religious leaders and fall under the moral codes of your church. You will want to enunciate how other staff and teachers are a part of your religious mission—and their conduct is vital to your work. Make sure to:

  • Have a Code of Conduct document that describes the ethical behavior that you want all staff to keep. Teach the code, have all staff sign it and keep the doc in each person’s HR files.
  • Be consistent in the application of the code. Don’t be like the church that fired an administrative assistant for having an affair but gave a stern warning to a pastor in a similar situation.
  • Include language in your teachers contracts or employment documents that shows the religious nature of their instruction. Have them sign it and keep it in their HR file. It is assumed that you already do this with all other staff.

It would do well to:

  • Ensure that your constitution or bylaws clearly state your views about marriage, sexual acts outside of marriage and gender identity issues.
  • In your policy documents, clearly state who can get married in your church facility and who can conduct the ceremony. 
  • Have policy on renting the facility to people and organizations of like faith. If you let civic groups rent your facility, be clear about the types of events that they can hold and what types of things cannot be promoted. Be consistent in the application of this.

The Equality Act has not passed the Senate yet. The goal for your church is to live out the Sermon on the Mount—to be a loving light to your community while upholding your church’s unique values, beliefs and views.