WILMINGTON, Delaware, November 18, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday filed by a Catholic religion teacher who claimed she was illegally fired from her job after her name appeared in a newspaper ad endorsing abortion. District Judge Kent A. Jordan threw out Ursuline Academy teacher Michele Curay-Cramer’s lawsuit, ruling that courts cannot interfere with the right of religious schools to teach their own beliefs. Catholic schools teach that abortion is murder, in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Curay-Cramer sued the all-girls school, its former president and communications director, as well as the diocese and the bishop, Michael A. Saltarelli, last November.
Diocesan spokesman Bob Krebs said, “This decision upholds and affirms the constitutional guarantees that every religious institution has the right to practice and uphold the teachings of its faith,” according to a delawareonline.com report.
Curay-Cramer’s attorney said she will be appealing the decision. In a January 22, 2003, advertisement marking the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, appearing in Wilmington’s The News Journal, her name appeared among 600 others endorsing abortion rights.
Jordan ruled that courts and government cannot interfere with the First Amendment rights of citizens, guaranteeing them the freedom of religious expression. “Judicial review of the school’s decision here risks exactly that,” he said in his 20-page ruling. “It is not the place of this or any other court to say what system of beliefs constitutes ‘true’ Catholicism or makes for a ‘good’ Catholic. Ours is a system which, wonderfully, forbids any intrusion of the sort,” he said.
Read local coverage: http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/11/17lawsuitagainstu.html tv