A Michigan school district’s written policy of giving hiring preference to non-Christians has been scrapped after more than 30 years, and officials say they have no idea how the clause – which they insist was never invoked – ever made it into the teachers’ union contract.
The teachers union contract in Ferndale Public Schools in Oakland County contained a clause that gave “special consideration” to applicants that are of “the non-Christian faith.” District officials say they didn’t even know about the clause, which the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Michigan-based, nonpartisan research and educational institute, found while reviewing teacher contracts in the state’s 200 biggest public school districts.
The clause was meant for current school employees seeking to apply for a vacancy within the district — and made clear that certain “minorities,” including those “of the non-Christian faith” will be given special consideration.
Below is the statement in question that has now been removed from the Teachers Union Contract in Ferndale Public Schools in Oakland County on page 22, section 10.3:
“Any teacher may apply for a vacancy in a position considered to be a “Promotion” as defined in Section 2 above,” the clause read. “Special consideration shall be given to women and/or minority defined as: Native American, Asian American, Latino, African American and those of the non-Christian faith.”
After the Mackinac Center contacted Ferndale Public Schools about their finding, which was reported by the nonprofit site Education Action Group, the suburban Detroit school district and its teachers’ union promptly removed the clause. Source
“This just strikes me as so un-American that they can put in open language for people to see that they are going to be discriminating against Christians,” said Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor. “Why would they be discriminating against Christians? They are not supposed to be discriminating against people for their religious beliefs. It’s outrageous. And I believe it’s unconstitutional.”
Thompson also wondered why a public school district was tracking the religious beliefs of employees: “Now, they are going to ask people, ‘Are you a Christian?’ ” Thompson said (source).
The real question is, “Why and how was such blatant discrimination allowed to be put in any contract to begin with”?