Bethany Taylor

ENG 1201.A50
Research Proposal
August 27, 2014

I always grew up in and out of church. Ever since I can remember, my family would get ready
and go to church on Sunday mornings. When I was five, my mother was my teacher of my kindergarten
class in the basement of our church. I remember hating that I went to a private school and had to wear
the jumper uniforms. Eventually my family moved and I ended up going to a public school. Later when I
was in high school, my father was ordained to be a pastor. I quickly became active on the praise and
worship team and eventually became the worship leader after I graduated.
I have seen my dad have to tell people to step down from various church positions because of
their lifestyle choices or mistakes. For example, my dad had to ask our youth leader to step down
because he had committed adultery and was told he needed to fix his family issues before being a role
model for the teenagers. I always understood my fathers position and wanting what was best for the
church. But as I have grown older and came out to my family as a homosexual, I have been questioning
whether or not it is okay in all circumstances. I was asked to step down as a praise and worship leader
because of my sexual orientation. I understood my fathers perspective, but I have heard of people
losing their jobs over the same sort of thing. This made me question where the line is between religious
freedom and discrimination.
I feel hurt knowing that I lost my position as a worship leader because of how I live or who I
chose to love. It is hard for a homosexual to be active in the church or a Christian community without
being asked to hide it or attempting to fix it. In some positions, I dont understand how it would
physically affect the job. I was very secretive about my orientation for a long time before I came out
about it. It had nothing to do with what I was doing on Sunday mornings. I think that the definition
within these institutes should be clearer on whether or not the employees will be considered ministers
or not. I believe that sometimes people are told to step down or are fired over the wrong things and the
reasoning is sometimes circumstantial. I believe that there should be a difference between ministers
that teach at church and teachers that teach at school. I know that teachers have been fired for their
sexual orientation, pregnancy outside or wedlock, and for other life style choices. In a regular work
place, this would be discrimination. I know that the ministerial exception protects religious institutions
to hire and fire outside of any anti-discrimination laws.
I want to know what the legal aspects of the ministerial exception are including the legal
definition of what a minister is and what organizations can legally use the exception. I would like to
look into finding more cases of people who have been affected by it and arguments of supporters. I
would like to ask for the opinions of different ministers who are in leadership and might have used the
ministerial exception. I want to know what is more important, the religious freedom of the organization
or the religious freedom of the individuals working there.