Sacred vs Civil

A YOUNG SINGLE LADY IN CINCINNATI decided to pursue a career in computers, and got a job teaching computer science at a catholic high school. It is presumed that upon hiring her, the school administration was aware of her religiosity, or lack thereof, from their viewpoint.

She decided that she wanted to be a mother, and she had herself artificially inseminated. Here in the twenty first century, single parents are no longer widely regarded as immoral, and single mothers are accepted, to a point. Their children, at least, are no longer defined by society as "illegitimate."

It brings to mind the old movie "Paternity", in which burt reynolds, it may've been, wanted to be a father, but without the burden of marriage. (Smart man.)... But, it must be conceded, if an unmarried lady wants to be a mother, but does not want to get married, or have unmarried sexual intercourse, is not catholic, and gets herself artificially inseminated, a catholic high school might not be her best choice  of workplace.

So the school, the church fired her. They claimed that upon her initial employment she had signed an agreement to abide by all the rules and regulations of the catholic church, and that single parenthood and artificial insemination are nowhere to be found in the liturgy.

She sued, and in federal court the lady was victorious, awarded back pay, compensatory damages, and punitive damages, all totalling slightly under two hundred thousand dollars. IN america, all religions are subject to civil, secular law.

If the young woman had misrepresented herself as being a catholic upon her hiring, the church would have had a valid agrument. But since they knowingly hired a non catholic person - good computer teachers are hard to find - they had this courtroom decision coming. Most probably they simply assumed that there would be no problems with religious issues, an assumption which proved terribly incorrect.

Every world religion would do itself well to keep in mind that we live in an increaisngly secular world in which religioous dogma takes a back seat to progressive civil liberties and rights. The world of secular civilization moves on, evolving. Any religious organization which does not do likewise is likely to encounter many future unfavorable rulings in courts of justice.