The City of Philadelphia’s choice to halt a foster care placement agreement with Catholic Social Services (CSS) – due to the fact the spiritual business enterprise refuses to locate foster children with same-sex couples – changed into upheld via the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in an opinion issued in advance this week. CSS challenged the metropolis’s policy as a violation of their spiritual liberty rights underneath the First Amendment and the Pennsylvania Religious Freedom Protection Act (RFPA) and sought an injunction to require their reinstatement, but the court sided with the metropolis.
Specifically, the court docket observed that the City’s non-discrimination rules were neutral in recognizing religion concerning the First Amendment. Here is an excerpt from the opinion: The City stands on the firm floor, requiring its contractors to abide by its non-discrimination guidelines while administering public services. Under Smith, the First Amendment does not prohibit government law of religiously influenced behavior so long as that law is not a veiled attempt to suppress disfavored religious ideals. At the same time, CS S can also assert that the City’s actions were now not driven using an honest dedication to equality; still, as an alternative via antireligious and anti-Catholic bias (and is of path able to introduce additional evidence as this case proceeds), the current record does not show spiritual persecution or bias. Instead, it indicates the City’s appropriate religion in its attempt to enforce its laws in opposition to discrimination.
