l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Atlanta Fire Chief Fired for Expressing Christian Beliefs
January 13, 2015 - 12:37 PM
By Ryan T. Anderson
Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran was fired on Tuesday by Atlanta Mayor
Kasim Reed. Why? Because, on his own private time, Cochran wrote a book
expressing his biblical understanding of sexual morality.
At the center of this controversy is whether governments should push those
who hold traditional beliefs out of government jobs. The decision by the
mayor is out of step with American values of freedom of speech and free
exercise of religion and with the ordinary citizen’s desire for peaceful co
-existence. The mayor’s action also may violate the First Amendment.
Cochran has been a firefighter since 1981 and was appointed Atlanta’s fire
chief in 2008. In 2009, President Obama appointed him as U. S. Fire
Administrator for the United States Fire Administration in Washington, D. C.
In 2010 he returned to serve as Atlanta’s fire chief.
Cochran is a devout Christian and active in his community as a member of
Elizabeth Baptist Church, where he serves as a deacon and teacher. In 2013,
he wrote and published a book — “Who Told You That You Are Naked?” — to
provide guidance to a men’s Bible study group embarking on a study, “A
Quest for Authentic Manhood.”
In late 2014, retired Atlanta Fire Department Capt. Cindy Thompson contacted
GA Voice, a Georgian LGBT group, to protest Cochran’s book and its mention
of homosexuality. Thompson then brought the book to the Mayor’s LGBT
liaison, Robin Shahar. Soon afterwards, LGBT activist groups began to rally
for the fire chief to be fired.
The activists point to only one page in the book which mentions
homosexuality as one among many sexual sins from a Christian perspective.
Mayor Reed promptly responded to the activists, issuing Chief Cochran a
month-long without-pay suspension, ordering him to undergo sensitivity
training, and then—after a month’s investigation—dismissing the chief. At
a news conference, Reed summarized his reasons for dismissing the fire
chief, “This is about judgment…This is not about religious freedom, this
is not about free speech… Judgment is the basis of the problem.”
Yet a month earlier Reed released a statement saying, “I profoundly
disagree with and am deeply disturbed by the sentiments expressed in the
paperback regarding the LGBT community. I will not tolerate discrimination
of any kind within my administration.” But the mayor never pointed to any
acts of discrimination from Cochran. He only disagreed with the book the
chief wrote.
The mayor also stated that he believes Cochran’s book may leave the city
vulnerable to potential for litigation, although it is unclear how this
might be the case. In 34 years of service, Cochran has never been accused of
discrimination by any employee, and Reed did not release any evidence of
discrimination after the month-long investigation.
Reed also said he decided to terminate Cochran because the fire chief didn’
t consult him before publishing the book, yet Cochran says he did confer
with the city’s ethics officer before publishing the book and was granted
verbal permission. Cochran also reported that he gave a copy of the book to
the mayor’s executive assistant in January 2014—10 months before the
suspension.
All of this suggests that Cochran did everything in his power to follow
proper protocol and give the city a chance to review his book before it was
published.
Cochran’s firing didn’t need to happen. The Supreme Court has routinely
held that government employees have limited free speech rights when the
speech of those employees “has some potential to affect the [governmental]
entity’s operations.” But “so long as employees are speaking as citizens
about matters of public concern, they must face only those speech
restrictions that are necessary for their employers to operate efficiently
and effectively.”
At the outset, it is obvious that Cochran was speaking in his private
capacity (not as a fire chief) and that he was speaking on a matter of
public concern (biblical faith and human sexuality). But did his speech
interfere with his job?
No one can plausibly claim that Cochran’s speech would interfere with his
ability to manage the fire department—his 34 years without incident attests
to that, as does the appointment from Obama. Nor should his book dissuade
his department from effectively fighting fires—would an Atlanta citizen who
is gay be afraid to dial 911 if his house was burning down, simply because
he heard about Cochran’s book? Not likely.
The only plausible claim that Reed has is that he might face political heat
from gay activist groups if Cochran is retained. Yet this is hardly Cochran
’s fault and has almost nothing to do with Cochran’s job description.
Upholding Cochran’s dismissal on this basis would set a dangerous precedent
for the free speech rights of public employees.
Ordinary Americans—both those in favor of gay marriage and those who oppose
gay marriage—understand that public servants shouldn’t be punished for
their speech as private citizens. As Cochran summarizes:
The LGBT members of our community have a right to be able to express their
views and convictions about sexuality and deserve to be respected for their
position without hate or discrimination, but Christians also have a right to
express our belief regarding our faith and be respected for our position
without hate and without discrimination. In the United States, no one should
be vilified, hated or discriminated against for expressing their beliefs.
This case is another example of how some activists are pushing to blacklist
those with traditional beliefs. Most Americans don’t like this—only the
ideologues do. So while some activists push for this, ordinary citizens,
whether they’re for or against gay marriage, do not want the government
punishing people over their beliefs about marriage.
We can have a government system of live and let live. Even if government
recognizes same-sex relationships as marriages, the government should not
punish Americans for their political or religious speech in defense of
marriage as a union of husband and wife. Government jobs should not be off
limits for any class of citizen including those who believe that marriage is
the union of a man and woman and that sex is reserved for marriage.
Protecting religious liberty and the rights of conscience doesn’t interfere
with ordinary governmental operations. Rather, protecting religious liberty
and the rights of conscience is the embodiment of principled pluralism. It
’s this principled pluralism that allows for a variety of beliefs with no
government-imposed orthodoxy. It allows for a more diverse and civil public
sphere. It allows for the tolerance that is essential to promoting co-
existence in the midst of disagreement.
We all must work to protect the rights of Americans to be free to speak and
to act in the public square in accordance with their belief that marriage is
the union of a man and woman—whether they are a duck hunter, wedding cake
baker or a fire chief.
Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., researches and writes about marriage and religious
liberty as the William E. Simon Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He also
focuses on justice and moral principles in economic thought, health care and
education, and has expertise in bioethics and natural law theory. | n****g
发帖数: 14743 | 2 靠。讲真相要付出代价的。
co
【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
: Atlanta Fire Chief Fired for Expressing Christian Beliefs
: January 13, 2015 - 12:37 PM
: By Ryan T. Anderson
: Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran was fired on Tuesday by Atlanta Mayor
: Kasim Reed. Why? Because, on his own private time, Cochran wrote a book
: expressing his biblical understanding of sexual morality.
: At the center of this controversy is whether governments should push those
: who hold traditional beliefs out of government jobs. The decision by the
: mayor is out of step with American values of freedom of speech and free
: exercise of religion and with the ordinary citizen’s desire for peaceful co
|
|
