wfn.org | NCCCUSA statement of suport for Employment Non-Discrimination Act

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.apc.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
USA
Contact: Carol Fouke, NCC News, 212-870-2252
Internet: carolf@ncccusa.org

Note: The following was submitted in writing for the 
record at a hearing Oct. 23 before the Senate Labor 
and Human Resources Committee.

Testimony of Oliver Thomas, Special Counsel for 
Civil and Religious Liberties
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
U.S.A.

Regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee
October 23, 1997

Good morning.  My name is Oliver Thomas, Special 
Counsel for Civil and Religious Liberties for the 
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
U.S.A.  I appear before you today on behalf of the 
National Council of the Churches in support of the 
Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 1997.  This 
legislation is about fairness.  For us, it is rooted 
in religious conviction about the value and dignity 
of every human life.  We want to be identified with 
American fairness.

The National Council of the Churches of Christ in 
the U.S.A. is the oldest and largest national 
ecumenical body in the United States.  Its 33 
Protestant and Orthodox member communions, to which 
52 million people belong, work together and with 
other church bodies and religious communities, to 
build a wider sense of Christian community, to 
identify religious common ground, and to deepen the 
experience of unity.  While I do not purport to 
speak for all members of the communions constituent 
to the National Council, I do speak for our policy-
making body, the General Assembly, whose members are 
selected by those communions to represent them in 
numbers proportionate to their total membership.

For decades, the National Council of the Churches of 
Christ in the U.S.A. (NCCC) has consistently 
advocated for the human and civil rights of all 
people, with a special concern in its public policy 
efforts on obtaining equal rights for gay and 
lesbian people.  Its work and programs have been 
based on the NCCC Policy Statement on Human Rights 
and subsequent resolutions regarding more specific 
concerns.  For example, in a 1994 Resolution, our 
governing body committed the Council to supporting 
efforts in the United States and around the world to 
end the practices of prejudice, discrimination and 
intentional violence based upon religion, race, 
class, caste, age, ethnicity, gender, sexual 
orientation, and physical limitation.

The National Council of Churches has always held 
that, as a child of God, every person is endowed 
with worth and dignity that human judgment cannot 
set aside.  In our Policy Statement on Human Rights, 
which has been repeatedly reaffirmed by our 
governing body, the National Council of Churches 
stated that:

Christians believe that humankind is made in the 
image of God, that every person is of intrinsic 
worth before God, and that every individual has a 
right to the fullest possible opportunities for the 
development of life abundant and eternal.  Denials 
of rights and freedoms that inhere in humankind's 
worth before God are not simply a crime against 
humanity; they are a sin against God.

Furthermore, we understand that as Christians we are 
called to love our neighbors as ourselves without 
exception (Matthew 22:37-39).  These principles 
guide us to believe that every person is entitled to 
equal treatment under the law.  Discrimination based 
on any criteria such as race, class, sex, creed, 
place of national origin, or sexual orientation is 
morally wrong.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act would serve to 
protect those individuals who are fired from their 
jobs, refused work, paid less and otherwise 
discriminated against in the workplace simply on the 
basis of their sexual orientation.  Since current 
federal civil rights laws do not cover this kind of 
discrimination, gay and lesbian people are currently 
deprived of  basic human rights that should belong 
to all Americans.  Critics argue that this 
legislation creates "special rights" for gay and 
lesbian people.  We kindly disagree.  This bill 
eliminates this form of discrimination, and thus it 
enlarges the level playing field for all Americans.  
Such action stands in the best of our nation's 
traditions.

There is broad support within our faith communities 
for providing protection from such employment 
discrimination.  In addition to general expressions 
of support for civil rights for gays and lesbians 
which many church bodies have expressed over the 
past decades, many faith groups both within and 
beyond the National Council of Churches have taken a 
specific position in support of the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act.  These groups included:
American Ethical Union, American Jewish Committee,
American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith, Central Conference of American Rabbis,
Church Women United, Episcopal Church, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (USA), General Board of Church
and Society of the United Methodist Church, Jewish
Women International, National Council of Jewish
Women, Office for Church in Society of the United
Church of Christ, Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, and the Unitarian Universalist
Association of Congregations.

These faith groups understand that this is not an
issue which requires a choice between their faith
and their commitment to fairness.  Until the passage
of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the law offered no
protection when people were fired on the basis of
their religious beliefs.  Now we take it for granted
that Christians, Jews, Muslims and others do not
discriminate against each other in the workplace
simply on the basis of religious disagreements.  The
law affirms our nation's deeply held belief that all
individuals should be valued equally, despite their
differences.  Accordingly, people of faith
overwhelmingly agree that such principles should be
extended to protect people from other forms of
discrimination which can occur in the workplace.

Accordingly, the Council would urge you to support
the prompt passage of the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act as a clear commitment to protect
all Americans in their God-given dignity and worth
against any discrimination in the marketplace.

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