The California Supreme Court heard oral argument March 11 regarding whether a Roman Catholic-owned medical clinic can fire an employee who actively works against the religious mission of the institution.

“In essence, this case is about whether a religious institution can make hiring and firing decisions on the basis of religion,” says Robert W. Nixon, legal counsel for the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide. “The church has long argued that its institutions have a fundamental right to create and preserve a distinct religious environment by hiring personnel who are supportive of the values and teachings of the church. Reflecting constitutional rights of church institutions, federal employment laws and most state and local employment laws permit church entities to discriminate on the basis of religion.”

The dispute in the California case centers on whether the Catholic medical clinic had the right to fire Terrence Silo, a file clerk, who lost his job for criticism of the Catholic faith and anti-Catholic proselytization of co-workers and patients during work hours. A California state appellate court initially ruled that Silo did have a right to engage in such actions and that the Catholic clinic had no right to take religious matters into account in making its employment decisions. The Catholic clinic then appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, with a broad group of church organizations filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the clinic.

“If religious institutions cannot hire and retain only those who are qualified to carry out its religious mission, then how can such institutions survive?” asks Alan J. Reinach, director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department of the Adventist Church’s Pacific Union Conference. “Church institutions that are forced to hired those antagonistic to their spiritual mission risk losing their religious distinctiveness.”

Attorney Jeff Berman, lawyer for church organizations supporting the clinic, participated in the oral arguments at the California Supreme Court. Berman, from the law firm Sidley, Austin, Brown and Wood, represented a variety of Baptist, Catholic, Christian Science, Latter-Day Saint, and Seventh-day Adventist organizations, including Loma Linda University & Medical Center, Adventist Health, and the General Conference.

A decision in the case is expected later this year.