Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-267_1an2.pdf
Page Number: 25.0

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

21 

Opinion of the Court 

Seventh-day Adventists “trace the importance of educa-
tion back to the Garden of Eden.”24  Seventh-day Adventist
formation “restore[s] human beings into the image of God
as revealed by the life of Jesus Christ” and focuses on the
development  of  “knowledge,  skills,  and  understandings  to 
serve God and humanity.”25 

This brief survey does not do justice to the rich diversity
of religious education in this country, but it shows the close 
connection  that  religious  institutions  draw  between  their 
central purpose and educating the young in the faith. 

2 
When  we  apply  this  understanding  of  the  Religion
Clauses to the cases now before us, it is apparent that Mor-
rissey-Berru and Biel qualify for the exemption we recog-
nized  in  Hosanna-Tabor.  There  is  abundant  record  evi-
dence  that  they  both  performed  vital  religious  duties. 
Educating and forming students in the Catholic faith lay at 
the core of the mission of the schools where they taught, and 
their employment agreements and faculty handbooks spec-
ified in no uncertain terms that they were expected to help 
the schools carry out this mission and that their work would
be evaluated to ensure that they were fulfilling that respon-
sibility.  As  elementary  school  teachers  responsible  for 
providing  instruction  in  all  subjects,  including  religion, 
they  were  the  members  of  the  school  staff  who  were  en-
trusted  most  directly  with  the  responsibility  of  educating 
their  students  in  the  faith.  And  not  only  were  they  obli-
gated  to  provide  instruction  about  the  Catholic  faith,  but
they  were  also  expected  to  guide  their  students,  by  word
and deed, toward the goal of living their lives in accordance
with the faith.  They prayed with their students, attended 

—————— 

24 Brief  for  General  Conference  of  Seventh-day  Adventists  et al.  as 

Amici Curiae 9. 

25 Seventh-day Adventist Church, About Us, https://adventisteducation. 

org/abt.html.