Religion & American Law

Christian Fire Chief Fired for Sharing Religious Views

Kelvin Cochran served 7 years as Atlanta city fire chief until he was recently dismissed by Mayor Kasim Reed. Cochran has filed a lawsuit against the mayor, claiming wrongful termination and a violation of his constitutional first amendment rights.

In 2013 Cochran self-published a book titled, "Who Told You That You Were Naked?" The book is written from a Christian perspective and reflects on a variety of topics including the very controversial and relevant topics of homosexuality and lesbianism. In the book Cochran strongly criticizes same sex relations. He goes so far as to characterize them as "sexual perversion" and "vulgar" and also compares them to "beastality" and "pederastry."Cochran handed out copies of this book in the workplace to fellow employees. An AFRD member complained to a member of the city council that a book containing such religious and offensive material was being distributed in the workplace.

Cochran was originally suspended without pay due to violation of city policy. City officials say Cochran violated city policy by distributing a self published book to employees at the workplace. Mayor Reed claims that Cochran was dismissed not because of his religious beliefs but, "because he displayed bad judgement," and did not follow correct protocol. According to the city code of ethics Mr. Cochran was required to get permission from the board of ethics before engaging in any activity privately for profit. This part of the case is suspect in the sense that Cochran claims "he was authorized during a 5 minute phone conversation with Hickson (ethics officer)." Hickson denies the claim and claims she has no memory of the call nor does she have the authority to approve his proposal.

Cochran and his legal counsel feel as though he was not terminated due to his "bad judgement" or lack of compliance with protocol, but because of his devout Christian perspectives on same sex relations reflected in his book. Attorneys say, "the devout Christian was targeted by the city simply for espousing his biblical views on sex."

ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman said,"In America a religious or ideological test can not be used to fire a public servant. That's precisely what the city did." The first amendment protects a public servant's right to distribute religious material at work to those willing to receive them. The salient constitutional issue regarding Kelvin Cochran's termination is that it represents a hostility towards religion and discrimination based on religious perspective on same sex relations. Cochran's counsel highlights that the city is being hypocritical in terminating him for being intolerant of other lifestyles, but then being intolerant of his first amendment right to practice and express his religion without discrimination or threat of termination. Cochran told a news outlet that he believes, "his dismissal is symbolic of growing threat on religious freedoms facing Christians and other people of faith around the nation."

I feel as though termination on the grounds of violation of policy or for breaking the code of ethics guidelines is certainly justified. It is unclear due to the conflicting opinions of Mr. Cochran and Mrs. Hickson, whether or not Cochran violated that protocol. However any termination based on Kelvin Cochran's religious perspective reflected in his privately funded and self published book is unconstitutional.

Although I personally do not agree with the views expressed in Mr. Cochran's book, I acknowledge that the first amendment protects his right to express them. As often mentioned in class, no one has the right to not be offended. It is shame that a member of the AFRD felt uncomfortable with the content and presence of the books at the workplace, but Kelvin Cochran was within his rights to distribute them and express his view. Mr. Cochran was essentially terminated because the state did not support the views expressed in his book. This shows both discrimination and hostility towards the Christian religion and is unacceptable. I understand that there is a compelling state interest to have leading public figures be tolerant due to their presence in the public sphere, but there is no evidence that this personal belief has led to any on job discrimination or problem with Cochran's work. I understand that if he wrote in the book saying that he wouldn't save a homosexual from a burning building that is different, but Cochran should be able to have a religious stance, regardless of its popularity amongst the city council, and be able to express that outside his role as fire chief and as his role as a citizen of the United States, protected by the first amendment. I think there are some ties between this case and the situation with California judges that must remove themselves from involvement with Boy Scouts groups. California judges can't be leaders of Boy Scout groups due to the Boy Scouts exclusion of gay group leaders and their religious stance on homosexuality. Again I disagree with any LGBTQ discriminatory policy, but I think it is also wrong to disallow the judges from being apart of a group outside their realm of work, they are public figures and therefore all of their actions are put under a microscope, however, they should have the freedom to be citizens outside of their profession and participate freely in such a group. By the same reasoning Kelvin Cochran should be able to write a book containing Christian perspectives without the fear of termination. This case causes the issue of hostility towards religion and now other public servants, police offers, military officers will be living in fear of termination if they express their religious beliefs openly.

What do you think? Was Cochran rightfully terminated? Read the article here. 

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