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Atlanta Ousts Fire Chief Who Has Antigay Views

His discrimination was religious ramblings.
Like I said, he was fired for discrimination. Had what he wrote not mentioned homosexuality, he would not have been fired.
 
There is no constitutional right to discriminate.

Of course there is. Almost nothing in the Constitution prohibits private persons from discriminating against anyone, for any reason. A member of the Ku Klux Klan, for example, has a perfect right to hate the guts of every black or Jew on earth, wish them all dead, and tell his feelings to anyone who will listen. Nor can any law require him to date one of those persons, or invite them to his dinner parties. Despite what some people who never learned basic civics might want to believe, there is no "Rainbows and Unicorns" clause in the Constitution. If that mean fact gives some collectivist dim bulbs in this country a big owie and makes them feel all icky, that's just too damned bad. Individual liberty includes the right to detest and condemn certain people and actions, and to say so.

Unless this fire chief was somehow coercing employees to accept his booklets, I don't see how what he did amounted to unconstitutional state endorsement of a particular religious belief. Nothing says any American has to approve of homosexual behavior. Many millions of people consider it immoral and unacceptable, often on religious grounds. It sounds to me like the local homosexuals screeched loudly and angrily enough to intimidate this mayor into knuckling under to them. Wait until organizations that support incest, or polygamy, or bestiality are shrieking and calling for some official's head because he dared to bruise their precious feelings by calling their sexual practices immoral. A free country is not for the thin-skinned.
 
Like I said, he was fired for discrimination. Had what he wrote not mentioned homosexuality, he would not have been fired.

While true; handing out religious material unsolicited should also be grounds for termination in the public work environment. It gives the impression of government endorsement for a particular religion and is inappropriate for this material to be handed out to subordinates.
 
Of course there is. Almost nothing in the Constitution prohibits private persons from discriminating against anyone, for any reason. A member of the Ku Klux Klan, for example, has a perfect right to hate the guts of every black or Jew on earth, wish them all dead, and tell his feelings to anyone who will listen. Nor can any law require him to date one of those persons, or invite them to his dinner parties. Despite what some people who never learned basic civics might want to believe, there is no "Rainbows and Unicorns" clause in the Constitution. If that mean fact gives some collectivist dim bulbs in this country a big owie and makes them feel all icky, that's just too damned bad. Individual liberty includes the right to detest and condemn certain people and actions, and to say so.

Unless this fire chief was somehow coercing employees to accept his booklets, I don't see how what he did amounted to unconstitutional state endorsement of a particular religious belief. Nothing says any American has to approve of homosexual behavior. Many millions of people consider it immoral and unacceptable, often on religious grounds. It sounds to me like the local homosexuals screeched loudly and angrily enough to intimidate this mayor into knuckling under to them. Wait until organizations that support incest, or polygamy, or bestiality are shrieking and calling for some official's head because he dared to bruise their precious feelings by calling their sexual practices immoral. A free country is not for the thin-skinned.

I should have clarified: The workplace has no constitutional rights. If you can't keep your discriminatory comments to yourself your boss can fire you at any time. A member of the KKK can hate anyone he wants, true, but the minute he passes out a pamphlet at work he can be fired. The chief represents the government to his subordinates and has no right or moral ground to spew his religious non-sense on anyone under his authority.
 
Of course there is. Almost nothing in the Constitution prohibits private persons from discriminating against anyone, for any reason. A member of the Ku Klux Klan, for example, has a perfect right to hate the guts of every black or Jew on earth, wish them all dead, and tell his feelings to anyone who will listen. Nor can any law require him to date one of those persons, or invite them to his dinner parties. Despite what some people who never learned basic civics might want to believe, there is no "Rainbows and Unicorns" clause in the Constitution. If that mean fact gives some collectivist dim bulbs in this country a big owie and makes them feel all icky, that's just too damned bad. Individual liberty includes the right to detest and condemn certain people and actions, and to say so.

Unless this fire chief was somehow coercing employees to accept his booklets, I don't see how what he did amounted to unconstitutional state endorsement of a particular religious belief. Nothing says any American has to approve of homosexual behavior. Many millions of people consider it immoral and unacceptable, often on religious grounds. It sounds to me like the local homosexuals screeched loudly and angrily enough to intimidate this mayor into knuckling under to them. Wait until organizations that support incest, or polygamy, or bestiality are shrieking and calling for some official's head because he dared to bruise their precious feelings by calling their sexual practices immoral. A free country is not for the thin-skinned.

He was at a workplace and participated in activity that is not allowed by the employer. He's not getting jailed, he's getting fired.
 
Our economy will be in a serious fix if we don't allow employers to fire employees who bring discredit to their organizations. Whether he should or should not be fired is a question of whether or not he brought discredit to the fire department. If he did then off with his head! People should not be fired for political or religious opinions. This guy was fired for embarrassing the city government. Nothing wrong with that.
 
I should have clarified: The workplace has no constitutional rights. If you can't keep your discriminatory comments to yourself your boss can fire you at any time. A member of the KKK can hate anyone he wants, true, but the minute he passes out a pamphlet at work he can be fired. The chief represents the government to his subordinates and has no right or moral ground to spew his religious non-sense on anyone under his authority.

That's not accurate. Firemen do not waive their constitutional freedoms of speech or religion when they arrive at work, any more than teachers do. And government employees usually cannot be fired as easily as private ones. I'm sure instructors at state and community colleges all over the U.S. regularly express views at work that many people would find repugnant. Apparently the state of Colorado did not violate anyone's constitutional rights by employing a professor at Boulder who, right after 9/11, disgustingly implied that the poor souls murdered at the World Trade Center deserved just what they got. He called them "little Eichmanns," comparing them to the Nazi war criminal.

What anyone thinks of the fire chief's morality or religious beliefs makes no difference. The issue is whether he, acting in effect as the state, coerced any person into endorsing the views contained in the booklets so far as to violate any right the Constitution guarantees, through the Fourteenth Amendment, against state infringement. I don't see where the booklet called for discrimination against homosexuals. It just expressed the religious view that homosexual acts are vulgar and undesirable. Millions of Americans believe the same.
 
He was at a workplace and participated in activity that is not allowed by the employer. He's not getting jailed, he's getting fired.

That begs the question whether the rule his employer relied on in terminating him violated any right guaranteed by the Constitution. Do you think, for example, that state governments, and through them the governments of their municipalities, could prohibit employees from, say, engaging in silent prayer in their break room? Could a government employee who was a Black Muslim be fired for commenting loudly to someone at work that "I think we should get rid of every last damn Jew in this country"?
 
Re: Atlanta Fire Chief: I was fired because of my Christian faith

If he hasnt shown any sign of discrimination in his leadership, he shouldnt have been fired over what he wrote in the book. I see it as more a Freedom of Speech issue then a Freedom of Religion issue though.
 
Re: Atlanta Fire Chief: I was fired because of my Christian faith

I agree it is sad. He did go out of his way to get approval to have his title associated with the book before it was published. I think he should sue.
 
Re: Atlanta Fire Chief: I was fired because of my Christian faith

Fox News once again spins the story to fit their agenda of victimization. Not only did the Fire Chief in question hand this book out to his employees, the book itself equated homosexuality to pederasty and bestiality. Are you okay with a public official publishing and handing out a book with clear hateful remarks about a group of people? Either way, I won't lose any sleep over this guy.
 
Re: Atlanta Fire Chief: I was fired because of my Christian faith

This is outrageous and another affront to Christianity. So very sad.


Atlanta Fire Chief: I was fired because of my Christian faith | Fox News

Problem is, NP, that he wrote (according to your reference):

“Uncleanness – whatever is opposite of purity; including sodomy, homosexuality, lesbianism, pederasty, bestiality, all other forms of sexual perversion.”

“Naked men refuse to give in, so they pursue sexual fulfillment through multiple partners, with the opposite sex, the same sex, and sex outside of marriage and many other vile, vulgar and inappropriate ways which defile their body – temple and dishonor God.”


So this means that if there's an LGBT firefighter working underneath him, that firefighter would know that his boss thinks that he or she - as an LGBT - is right down there with pederasty, bestiality, et al. And you would know down deep in your gut what that means for your chances for advancement.

What's more, when the leader has that attitude, it trickles down the the chain and affects the whole supervisory chain. As a Navy veteran, you should know this instinctively from how a crew's performance and attitude changes when a new captain takes command of the ship.

So...yeah. The guy had to be fired. If he wasn't aware enough of how his words and actions can affect his people, and how this can affect their job performance, then the guy had to go. It wasn't a PC thing - it was a LEADERSHIP thing.
 
Re: Atlanta Fire Chief: I was fired because of my Christian faith

Fox News once again spins the story to fit their agenda of victimization. Not only did the Fire Chief in question hand this book out to his employees, the book itself equated homosexuality to pederasty and bestiality. Are you okay with a public official publishing and handing out a book with clear hateful remarks about a group of people? Either way, I won't lose any sleep over this guy.

If he handed it out at work then that is a different story. Supervisors (especially in government jobs) shouldnt hand out religious material of any kind at their jobs.
 
Why should someone lose their job over that? Would you support his firing if he passed out pro-gay marriage leaflets too? Or books by Richard Dawkins? Why are liberals so intolerant?

As fire chief, Cochran crossed the line when he handed out the book to subordinates at work. His religious view - especially as a chief - are not to be imposed on the people who report to him. He was wrong to hand out religious material at work. NO CAN DO.

I have no truck with someone in his position writing the book or any book. He has a right to do that. If, however, he presents his views and his book publicly in uniform at his church or other churches or groups he is in essence representing the city. If he hands out religious books at work or while in uniform he is representing the city. The City of Atlanta does not have any official religion.

Further, the issue is a human resource matter and at this point the details are probably not yet available. At this point the mayor would likely be under legal advisement to discuss the matter in general terms. That is standard procedure.
 
Can a book discriminate? I don't think it can. It's an inanimate object.

Yes, books can discriminate. More to the point power and authority can discriminate and Cochran's alleged behavior represents an abuse of authority.
 
Can someone point out in the many links on this story from all media outlets where exactly this man was:

Forcing religion on anyone?
Advocating points of view while on the clock?
Discriminating as the fire chief against anyone?

I'm all for gay rights but I can't see anywhere in this link or others that he did something that warranted him being fired. I have employees who work for me. From everything I read he only gave less than 5 copies of this book to co-workers, and it doesn't say he gave them to anyone while he was "on the clock" and it also says he gave them to these people who are people with whom he has a relationship based on Christianity.

I disagree with this man's message, but this is a violation of his First Amendment rights as far as I can see, and it certainly doesn't warrant his job termination. Sorry.
 
Yes, books can discriminate. More to the point power and authority can discriminate and Cochran's alleged behavior represents an abuse of authority.

How can an inanimate object act in a human way? It can't. It can offer a discriminatory point of view, or carry a discriminatory message, but it can't discriminate itself.

I'm not sure what the abuse of authority was. Maybe we have different definitions of that. To me it's using your power to take advantage of someone or abuse someone. Did the handful of people he gave that book to say he abused them?

If I write a book on animal rights, and it gets published, and I send a free copy to the people who work for me, am I abusing my power?
 
Re: Atlanta Fire Chief: I was fired because of my Christian faith

So you would be ok with a state employee handing out anti-Christian books to his employees? I bet not...

Or what if a State Employee handing out a Koran? Imagine the outrage.
 
Re: Atlanta Fire Chief: I was fired because of my Christian faith

So you would be ok with a state employee handing out anti-Christian books to his employees? I bet not...

Anti-Christian books that the state employee wrote himself, and handed out to only a few people who he knew or believed shared the same views as he did? Why would that be a bad thing?
 
This ludicrous "How can an inanimate object do anything" question is itself inane. mate.
 
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