Senate should ban discrimination in hiring, church exec says
5/13/2003 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York NOTE: A photograph of the Rev. R. Randy Day is available at http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html. NEW
YORK (UMNS) - The U.S. Senate should restore a prohibition against
discrimination in hiring when it considers a major job training bill,
according to a United Methodist executive.
In a May 9 statement,
the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries, called the removal of such a prohibition by the House
of Representatives "retrogressive social legislation."
The
version of the Workforce Investment and Adult Education Act (H.R. 1261),
passed May 8 by the House, would allow religious agencies with federal
work force grants or contracts to discriminate in hiring on the basis of
religious belief. Such action has been prohibited since the legislation
was first introduced during the Reagan administration, Day pointed out. United
Methodist Church policy requires church-related agencies that deliver
services using tax dollars to take skill, competence and integrity, not
religious factors, into account when hiring, he noted. He urged the U.S.
Senate to restore the previous provisions when it considers the work
force bill. The Board of Global Ministries relates to dozens of
community centers and other community-based programs in the United
States, many of which provide public services using government funds. "Religion
has no business accepting government money to foster its own private
interests, important as those may be," Day said in his statement, "and
government has no business offering money to religious groups with the
suggestion that they may use it in ways that discriminate among clients
and/or staff." # # #
The full text of the Rev. R. Randy Day's statement follows:
I
am deeply distressed that the U.S. House of Representatives on May 8
adopted a revision of the Workforce Investment and Adult Education Act
(H.R. 1261) that would allow religious organizations holding federal
contracts and grants in the jobs arena to discriminate in hiring on the
basis of religious belief or affiliation.
This is retrogressive
social legislation. A prohibition on any form of discrimination in
matters of clientele or staffing has been a good and necessary part of
federal workforce legislation for more than two decades. It should be
extended as a matter of sound policy and just treatment where public
funds are involved.
I take this position as the head of an
organization related to dozens of local institutions and programs that
receive federal workforce funds. The United Methodist Church has
positive guidelines against discrimination on the basis of religion in
the delivery of government-funded services by church-related agencies.
Our
General Conference, the only entity that speaks for The United
Methodist Church, adopted a resolution in 2000 making it very clear that
we oppose such discrimination. The resolution states: "Skill,
competence, and integrity in the performance of duties shall be the
principle consideration in the employment of personnel and shall not be
superseded by any requirement of religious affiliation."
I offer
this tried and true open hiring policy as a model to any faith-based
organization that is serious about the delivery of publicly funded
services to the public. Religion has no business accepting government
money to foster its own private interests, important as those may be;
and government has no business offering money to religious groups with
the suggestion that they may use it in ways that discriminate among
clients and/or staff.
The action in the House of Representatives
is an abandonment of the American guarantee of non-discrimination in
the use of public resources. It should be reinstated by the Senate when
that chamber acts on the workforce measure.
Rev. R. Randy Day General Secretary General Board of Global Ministries The United Methodist Church
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