Opinion ID: 2388653
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Religious Activities of the Senior Adoption Worker

Text: Section 5.06(1) of the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act exempts a religious corporation's employment of an individual of a particular religion if the individual perform[s] work connected with the performance of religious activities by the corporation. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 5221k § 5.06(1) (emphasis added). The exemption in Title VII provides that religious entities can employ individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the entity's activities. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-1. Therefore, the federal statute does not require that the employee's work be connected with the entity's religious activities. Section 5.06(1) thus is more restrictive in this respect than the federal exemption. For this reason, federal case law does not aid us here. To determine whether the work of a senior adoption worker is connected with the Agency's religious activities, we should examine the relationship between the worker's duties and the religious mission of the Synod of the Sun. Once again, we must engage in a balancing test, maintaining the proper deference to the religious aspects of the position. Although senior adoption workers performed no religious rituals, 847 S.W.2d at 241 (Doggett, J., dissenting), they are the primary link between the Agency and prospective adoptive parents. According to the Agency, senior adoption workers must be professed Christians who possess a Christian commitment and concern for troubled youths and their families in order to adequately fulfill the Agency's purpose and goals. Senior adoption workers screen and evaluate prospective families to ensure their suitability to become adoptive families. In turn, one absolute criteria for suitability utilized by the Agency is that both the husband and the wife be church-orientated and active in the same Christian church. The senior adoption worker must assess the couple's commitment to the Christian religion. As previously indicated, prospective adoptive and foster parents must sign a Statement of Faith that sets out the Agency's mission statement and testifies to the prospective parents' Christian faith. The staff member working with the family must also sign the Statement of Faith. The language set forth in the statement, shows that only those persons who adhere to the Christian religion can truthfully sign it. The Agency's mission is to provide a variety of Christ-centered child care services. Ms. Speer testified that she did not understand the concept of Christ-centered child care or the notion of distinctively Christian relationships. In fact, she also testmea tnat sne aoes not Know wnat tne Christian religion is and she does not believe Christianity is a religion. Based on her own admissions, she could not carry out the purpose of the Agency. Ms. Speer and the Commission urge that the senior adoption worker position does not entail religious activities. They argue that the application for the position does not discuss the necessity of being Christian. While this is true, the application devotes half a page to five questions inquiring into the religious background of the applicant. Such questions combined with the name of the organization should alert the reasonable applicant that the Agency possesses some type of religion-based requirement. Furthermore, the Adoption Worker Purpose of Position, Qualifications, and Responsibilities Statement requires an applicant to have a reference from a minister. This adequately serves notice on the applicant that religious belief is a consideration in the employment decision. Ms. Speer and the Commission also argue that many of the Agency's activities are also performed by secular organizations and entities. While this is true, a religious activity of a religious organization does not lose that special status because it holds some interest for persons who are not members of the faith, or it occupies a position of respect in the secular world at large. Feldstein, 555 F.Supp. at 978. Just because child care services can be rendered in a secular manner does not mean that they cannot be rendered in a religious manner. I therefore conclude that there is some evidence that the Agency's senior adoption worker position was connected with its religious activities.