Is Christian Business Against The Law?

I received a comment on one of my former posts and I would like to address the issue it raised more fully in this post. The comment (quoted in full below), basically said we, as Christian business owners and leaders, need to be careful to comply with “the separation of Church and State” issues placed on us by our government. I believe there are likely many people who temper their witness as a result of this issue and I would like to liberate you from that fear!

A Christian should run their business on Biblical principles…honesty, integrity, love, truth, etc. However, if you start requiring people partake of “COMMUNION”, or complying with Jesus’ command….to “go ye into all the world…” you will be hard-pressed to comply with “the separation of Church and State” issues placed upon us by our government.

First, I would like to address the big picture. After that, I will tell you how we address the overall issue in our business. Finally, I will give you some resources that will allow you to seek further information.

Is Christian Business Against The Law?

Obviously, with the overwhelming number of laws and regulations we have at almost every level of government these days, it is impossible for me to address all areas of the law relating to Christian business. That is not the intent of this post. Instead, I want to hit the main points and then give you the resources to go further if necessary.

While it certainly looks as if every corner of today’s culture is opposed to our Christian faith, it may surprise you to know that our law is actually friendly to our Christian witness. In fact, there is very little in the way of regulations that will hinder you in integrating your faith into your business.

The main area that can trip up the Christian business owner or leader is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law is not designed to keep our faith out of the business. Instead, it is written to forbid discrimination in hiring, compensation, and promotions based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Our responsibility as Christian business owners and leaders is to comply with this law in a straight-forward manner. So, how do we do this?

The following material from the C12 Group answers this question well:

General Guidelines For Compliance

Owners and managers are able to communicate their religious beliefs through company policies, practices, and witnessing if they stick to the following simple guidelines:

• Don’t give current or prospective employees the perception that employment or advancement requires workers to adopt a certain religious belief.

• Accommodate employee objections and provide equal opportunity of expression and use of resources/facilities (unless incompatible with stated company core principles).

• Don’t require employees to participate in worship.

Recommendation:

Ensure company written materials (e.g., application, manuals, etc.) inform employees that their religious beliefs or non-beliefs play no role in hiring, termination, promotion, or in the terms, conditions or privileges of employment.

Note:

These guidelines are general and are not a substitute for detailed legal advice.

Building a unified team while avoiding legal issues

• Always be clear in communicating and reinforcing the core principles of the firm
• Recruit & interview employees with these principles firmly in view
• Ask candidates how they will contribute in such an environment; hire accordingly
• Hold all your people accountable for abiding by these core principles
• Give everyone committed to achieving these core principles an equal opportunity to be hired, developed, promoted, and compensated
• Maintain a policy requiring internal disputes to be resolved according to a clearly defined conflict resolution process with the ‘final step’ being third party mediation or arbitration

Our Approach

When we first begin our interview process, we let the prospective employee know that we consider ourselves a Christian business and we operate on Biblical principles. We explain that we do not hire, compensate, or promote based on that, but we are open about our faith.

The Mike Patton Auto Family seeks to honor God through impacting the lives of our employees, customers, and community.

We tell them about our mission statement (above) and let them know about some of our practices such as monthly devotions, opening meetings with prayer, etc. We explain that they are not required to participate in these activities, but we do want them to know about them up front.

We are working on way to reinforce this approach during orientation so that the awareness does not fade. After that, we simply attempt to live this out to the best of our abilities.

We are not perfect and we very well may face legal opposition one day in the future. In that event, I pray we have behaved according to God’s will and that He will protect us. Regardless of the consequences here on earth, we will continue to bear witness of our faith as well as we are able.

Resources

Several Christ-centered legal organizations offer websites, publications, help lines, and legal counsel to defend Christian freedom in the workplace. These resources include:

Alliance Defense Fund (www.alliancedefensefund.org): Pamphlet – The Truth behind Faith in the Workplace.

American Center for Law & Justice (www.aclj.org): Wonderfully informative website, Pamphlet – Workplace Rights

Pacific Justice Institute (www.pacificjustice.org): Pamphlet – Reclaim Your Workplace

Christian Legal Society (www.clsnet.org): Christian lawyer referral service

Peacemakers Ministries (www.peacemaker.net): Christian conciliation services, and helpful teaching and discipling materials applicable to workplace, churches and homes.

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