What You Should Know

By Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz

32nd Senatorial District Bronx County, New York

Tel. 718-991-3161

No newspaper, nor any media source with the exception of the New York Post newspaper, published the defeat suffered by the administration of President Barack Obama at the hands of the Supreme Court.

You my dear reader, should know that the Supreme Court voted unanimously; with nine (9) votes in favor and zero (0) against, that the federal Government cannot impose on any religious group or on any church who they choose as its Pastor.

This argument started when the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hossana Tabor, in the State of Michigan decided to dismiss a teacher in its school and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took the case before the courts to show that the Church had committed discrimination when they dismissed its teacher.

The case went before the Supreme Court of the nation, composed of nine judges, who all unanimously, something rarely seen, decided that the Federal Government cannot impose on churches who they hire or who they fire as their pastors, leaders or officers.

Mr. Douglas Laycock, an attorney from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who defended this small congregation from Michigan before the Supreme Court of the nation stated: "This is a tremendous victory for freedom of religion in this nation. The Supreme Court unanimously confirmed the right of churches to select their ministers and religious leaders without the intervention of the Government.”

Mr. Kevin Seamus Hasson, Esquire, a former Director of the Becket Fund said, "This decision of the Supreme Court is a total rejection of the radical, anti-religious agenda of the Obama Administration.”

When the President’s administration took the case to Court, the Federal Department of Justice under the direction of Eric Holder, stated that the first amendment of the Constitution is irrelevant regarding the ability of the churches to choose and dismiss their pastors and leaders. In other words, they want to dictate to churches, how to choose their leaders and that the churches had to be politically correct. My friends, the Obama Administration wanted to tell the churches that sex, sexual preference or religious beliefs could not disqualify a person from being a pastor or a religious leader in a congregation.

Thank God that all is not lost! The Supreme Court of the nation that is frequently divided five votes to four, on this occasion, came together and in a unanimous vote, gave us Christians and believers a tremendous victory by demonstrating to the Federal Administration and the whole world, that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our God, has never abandoned us and will never abandon us as long as there are men and women that do not bend their knees to Baal.

I am Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.