World Vision wins right to hire and fire on faith basis
World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization, can fire employees who disagree with its theological tenets, a federal appeals court has ruled. In a 2-1 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said on August 23 that World Vision is a "religious corporation" and therefore exempt from a federal law that bars faith-based discrimination.
"I am satisfied that World Vision has met its burden of showing that the 'general picture' of the organization is 'primarily religious,'" wrote Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain. "World Vision is a nonprofit organization whose humanitarian relief efforts flow from a profound sense of religious mission."
Three employees, two of whom had worked at World Vision for ten years, were fired in 2006 because they did not believe in the divinity of Jesus or the doctrine of the Trinity, O'Scannlain wrote. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars religious discrimination but carves out an exemption for companies engaged in a religious purpose, the court ruled.
