In a unanimous decision, a state appeals court has said that religious organizations must be able to consider religious affiliation when making hiring and firing decisions.  The Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, affirmed that a Christian school can choose to hire only employees of the same denomination; a practice that in recent years has come under increased legal fire in the United States.

The case, decided April 12, involved an employment discrimination suit against Montrose Christian School, a Baptist school located in Rockville, Maryland. Four former employees, who were not members of the Baptist Church, claimed they had been fired in 1996 solely “on the basis of their religious creed.”

Reversing the decision of a lower court, which had ruled against Montrose Christian School, the appeals court said that both the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Maryland Constitution “limits governmental interference with the internal management of religious organizations.”

Robert Nixon, general counsel at the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, welcomed the decision, saying it upheld the fundamental Constitutional principle of free religious exercise. “Private religious organizations–-such congregations, administrative offices, and schools—must be free to make employment decisions that take into account the religious beliefs of applicants,” says Nixon.  The Adventist Church had filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Montrose Christian School.