It is black letter law in Washington state -- schools are available for rent outside of school hours. It is also black letter law that school districts cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination in renting out such facilities -- especially not on the basis of the religious teachings of an organization.

So why is the Lake Washington Education Association demanding that one particular church be denied its rights under the US Constitution and Washington state law?

About 3,500 people regularly attend Sunday services at Antioch Bible Church, making it one of the larger congregations in the Seattle area, but the church doesn't have a permanent home.

For the past six years, Antioch has met at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, an arrangement that keeps the church out of mortgage debt and provides the Lake Washington School District with about $140,000 in annual rental income.

But the teachers union wants to end that relationship, saying the district shouldn't associate with the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, Antioch's outspoken pastor, who claimed credit for Microsoft's former opposition to a gay rights bill in the state Legislature.

The union leadership says Hutcherson's presence at Lake Washington High implies that his beliefs are condoned by the district, goes against the district's human dignity policy, brings unwanted attention to the school and promotes intolerance.

"The Lake Washington Education Association strongly condemns the bigoted views of Dr. Ken Hutcherson," union President Kevin Teeley wrote in the organization's recent newsletter.

So, the union is now setting itself up as the judge of the acceptability of the religious teachings of local churches, and the arbiter of their practices. As such, it seems to me that they are attempting to establish a theocracy, seeking to impose one set of religious views as permissible. That would clearly violate the Constitutions of both the United States and the state of Washington, as public law mandates membership in the union -- now a religious group -- by teachers as a condition of employment. It therefore seems to me that the district contract witht he union must be null and void, and teachers must be free to disassociate themselves from the group without legal or employment sanctions.

Oh, and I find it interesting that one educator, the spouse of the former district superintendent, complained that the church mistreated a bunch of gay rights activists. But when you look at the actual facts of the situation, it becomes clear that the actions of Antioch officials were quite moderate and appropriate.

Former Lake Washington High librarian Lee Bates, now at Inglewood Junior High, addressed the school board last night, upset at the treatment of a group of gay rights supporters who visited Antioch.

The activists were told they would have to sit in a separate section unless they removed their rainbow armbands. The visitors eventually chose to remove their armbands and sat wherever they wanted.

"It is not about the pastor's beliefs but his treatment of people that is in question," said Bates, husband of former Lake Washington Superintendent Karen Bates.

Let's look at this closely -- a group came to make a political/social/theological (you decide) statement during the church service, so church officials decided to allow them in the service but restrict them to certain seating area to prevent them from disturbing other worshippers. That is a pretty reasonable action, as such protesters have in the past disrupted services in other congregations. Frankly, I would have insisted that they sit in that area regardless of whetehr they removed their armbands. Nobody has the right to disrupt a church service.

Frankly, the action of the union stinks. It seems to me that the union is arrogantly attempting to penalize free exercise of religion. Could it be that these folks are nothing more than a band of left-wing theocrats?

Posted by: Greg at 01:49 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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