Tue Feb 22, 2022 – 6:41 pm EST
RICHMOND, Virginia (LifeSiteNews) – Virginia lawmakers are considering legislation to strengthen religious entities’ right to make hiring and firing decisions consistent with the tenets of their faith, irrespective of “discrimination” claims under the Virginia Human Rights Act (VHRA).
HB 753 declares that nothing in the VHRA should be interpreted as forbidding a “religious corporation, association, or society, or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, supervised, or controlled by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association, or society, from taking any action to promote the religious principles for which it is established or maintained,” according to its legislative summary.
The bill would also add preschools to a preexisting list of educational institutions allowed to hire on the basis of religion if they “are owned, supported, controlled, or managed by a particular religion or religious corporation, association, or society,” and clarifies “religion” to encompass “all aspects of religious observance and practice as well as belief,” including as beliefs pertain to “individuals employed to perform work associated with the activities of a particular religion by a religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society.”
The Virginia House passed the bill 54-45
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