A Christian teacher threatened with termination at a Tennessee elementary school for objecting to reading a book that promotes same-sex marriage to his first-graders was cleared of all disciplinary action and permitted to receive a religious accommodation.
KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee issued a “final warning letter” to Eric Rivera on Jan. 7. Rivera, a devout Christian who believes that promoting homosexuality violates Biblical teaching, was to read the book to his students on Jan. 6 but did not. The following day Rivera was called to the principal’s office and threatened with termination. Rivera was later removed from his first-grade classroom and reassigned to a lab and technology teaching position before again being reassigned to a kindergarten teaching position.
First Liberty Institute filed suit on Feb. 17 on Rivera’s behalf, requesting that KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School remove the final warning letter from his personnel file, stop discriminating against individuals for their religious beliefs in hiring and evaluating employees, and commit to accommodating religious employees who wish to refrain from reading any materials to students that violate their faith.
The suit cites Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which established that employers cannot discriminate against individuals for their religious beliefs and requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless it would cause an “undue hardship” on the conduct of the employer’s business.
“Mr. Rivera’s sincerely held religious beliefs are protected under the First Amendment,” the suit stated. “Thus, he was within his rights to request a reasonable accommodation. As employees, teachers have the right to opt out of curricula that they find religiously objectionable just as students do unless the opt out would cause an undue hardship.”
First Liberty Institute announced on March 2 that KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School had relented to the complaint, agreeing to “permit all teachers to ask another employee to read materials objectionable to their faith” and drop any disciplinary letters from Rivera’s employment record.
Cliff Martin, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, spoke on behalf of Rivera in the press release announcing the decision.
“We are pleased that the school has made the right decision by accommodating Mr. Rivera for his deeply held religious views,” said Martin. “Our client is deeply devoted to teaching and is grateful that his record has been cleared and reasonable accommodations will be provided going forward.”
