'Indiana Supreme Court Just Protected all Religious Institutions to Be Free from Government Interference': Here's the Case

The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the religious freedom rights of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis on Wednesday, saying it can hire or fire employees based on religious principles. 

The court specifically ruled the diocese can't be sued by a teacher who was fired from his job at a Catholic high school for being in a same-sex marriage.

More broadly, the state Supreme Court's decision means religious institutions have the First Amendment right to decide matters of church governance for themselves.

"The archdiocese's decision whether a school maintains its Catholic identity is an internal matter that concerns both church policy and administration," the decision said.

Catholic school teachers in the archdiocese sign an agreement to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church in word and deed. 

In 2017, Joshua Payne-Elliott, who taught at Cathedral Catholic High School in Indianapolis, entered a same-sex union in violation of both his employment agreement and Catholic teaching. After an extensive period of dialogue between the high school and the archdiocese, it was made clear to Cathedral that it needed to require teachers to uphold Church teaching to remain affiliated with the Catholic Church. 

After the school terminated Payne-Elliott and provided him with a settlement, he sued the archdiocese. His lawsuit claimed the archdiocese illegally interfered with his contractual and employment relationship with Cathedral High School by causing the school to fire him. 

Attorneys with Becket, a religious liberty law firm that represented the archdiocese in Payne-Elliott v. Archdiocese of Indianapolis, said the court's decision upheld the rights of religious institutions to determine their values.

"Courts can't decide what it means to be Catholic—only the Church can do that," said Luke Goodrich, VP & senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. "By keeping the judiciary out of religious identity, the Indiana Supreme Court just protected all religious institutions to be free from government interference in deciding their core religious values."

An Indiana trial court originally dismissed the lawsuit in favor of the archdiocese, but Payne-Elliott appealed the decision. After the Indiana Court of Appeals reinstated the lawsuit, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty asked the Indiana Supreme Court to review the case.

The Indiana high court upheld the archdiocese's religious autonomy from state interference in sensitive internal religious decisions. The "Constitution encompasses the right of religious institutions to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government," Justice Slaughter wrote. 

Payne-Elliott pointed out in a statement released by his attorney that Cathedral High School renewed his annual contract three times after becoming aware of his relationship until the archdiocese intervened. He criticized the fact that parents are allowed to use "state funds" to send their children to schools in the archdiocese under the state's private school voucher program.

"We would also like the citizens of Indiana to know that millions of taxpayer dollars are being redirected each year from public schools (where teachers have enforceable contract rights and rights to be free from discrimination) to private schools which target LGBTQ employees," he said. 

Payne-Elliott's attorney, Kathleen DeLaney, said they were evaluating options on possibly filing a new lawsuit with different arguments.

***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***