Former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, who alleges he was fired from his position solely because of his Christian beliefs, has filed a religious discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
That's not news at the Associated Press's national site, and it appears that the AP has not even carried a local story about Cochran's EEOC complaint — omissions that reek of a double standard.
The wire service carried a national "Big Story" item in November about how Cochran was "in trouble" over a "homosexuality book" (AP's term). Actually, instead of being entirely about homosexuality, as anyone reading the AP headline would think is the case, Cochran's book merely has "a chapter on human sexuality that’s consistent with the Bible’s teaching on the subject."
AP also carried a January 13 "Big Story" about Cochran's firing dominated by the city's side of the story with yet another deceptive headline: "Mayor: Fire chief not axed for writing anti-gay book."
But all forms of pushback from Cochran, including dramatic stories of support from fellow Christians, and now the former fire chief's EEOC action? Crickets.
Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council wrote about Cochran's situation on January 14 (italics and links are in original; bolds are mine throughout this post):
Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran spent his life answering the call, and yesterday, hundreds of Georgians returned the favor. The city’s 34-year squad veteran was inspired by the show of support at the Atlanta Capitol yesterday, where people from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and political parties stood alongside Cochran in protest of his outrageous firing. Like the sportscasters, educators, athletes, small businesses, wedding vendors, firefighters, and others who dare to think outside the far-Left box, Cochran was a victim of the same intolerance his Mayor claims to oppose.
The former Obama appointee, who had a long and distinguished record, finally had the opportunity to tell his side of the story at Tuesday’s rally. And, like so many before him, nothing but fierce hostility toward Christianity was at its heart. To a room full of reporters, Cochran made it clear: “I was fired for having the audacity to believe that sex was created for procreation and should be in the bonds of holy matrimony between and a man and woman.”
Ironically, the Mayor’s office, which flatly denies that this has anything to do with Kelvin’s religious views, was in the back of the room, busily handing out copies of the unbelievably hypocritical New York Times editorial that insists the exact opposite! So which is it? It’s pretty audacious of his staff to be handing out the Times piece while maintaining their line about “protocol violations.” As so often is the case when the public actually finds out what is really behind the so-called “equality,” the Left has gone into complete damage control -- desperately trying to paint this as a single employment decision, when dozens of bakers, photographers, and businessmen know that it’s anything but.
Bishop Paul Morton, one of the several black pastors on hand, warned the city, “... if they take our Bible, and hear you still talking about the Bible then they’ll try to penalize us. But I’m here to tell you, oh no, we’re not going out this way.”
It all makes for a very interesting backdrop to the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) debate, which would stop the government from trampling a person’s religious liberty, unless it can prove a “compelling interest” in doing so and has “narrowly tailored” its efforts. “One thing we should not have to sacrifice,” Kelvin said, “are the freedoms inherent in our great nation: free speech and freedom of religion.” Cochran’s case, and those of countless other victims across the country, ought to give the RFRA push a boost. Especially when liberals like Rabbi Peter Berg are running around arguing, “There is absolutely no evidence our religious rights are currently being circumvented.”
Kelvin Cochran is that evidence. And people from all walks of life realize it.
At Breitbart two days later, Thomas D. Williams sharply criticized the New York Times editorial to which Perkins is referring, and noted that the controversy really comes down to one sentence in Cochran's book (links and italics are in original):
DOUBLE STANDARD: NYT EDITORS OPPOSE FREE SPEECH OF ATLANTA FIRE CHIEF
The New York Times is a staunch defender of freedom of expression. At least as long as it doesn’t involve professing a biblical view of homosexual acts.
... the flagship of free expression gave its official thumbs-up to the decision by Atlanta’s mayor to sack the fire chief, Kelvin Cochran, for distributing a book he had written which includes “virulent anti-gay views.”
According to the editorial, Cochran, a devout Christian, “was fired on Jan. 6 by Atlanta’s mayor, Kasim Reed, for homophobic language in the book, Who Told You That You Were Naked? Among other things, he called homosexuality a ‘perversion,’ compared it to bestiality and pedophilia, and said homosexual acts are ‘vile, vulgar and inappropriate.’”
By this standard, if Cochran had distributed free copies of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or the Bible for that matter, he should have been fired. Both of these works condemn homosexual acts as sinful and disordered.
Moreover, Cochran does not actually compare homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia, but includes it as a sin alongside them, much as one might cite lying, theft, and murder. The actual quotation is “Uncleanness—whatever is opposite of purity; including sodomy, homosexuality, lesbianism, pederasty, bestiality, all other forms of sexual perversion.”
... investigation, however, found no evidence that Mr. Cochran had mistreated gays or lesbians, a finding that the NYT editors said “should not matter.” There was no evidence, in fact, that Cochran ever discriminated against anyone on the job or the community.
... (Timothy) Egan in his (separate) NYT editorial (wrote): “But at least all nations should agree that free expression is never a reason to kill.”
Apparently, in the eyes of the New York Times, it is sufficient reason to fire.
As Erick Erickson at RedState has so often noted for the benefit of people who believe they can merely keep their heads down and permanently avoid confrontation: "You will be made to care." If someone thinks they can make an example of you, the PC police will target you for personal or professional ruin for any religion-supporting statement you might make on your Facebook age, any comment that you might make in a blog post or forum, or even for being associated with a church or other group with views the persecutors happen not to like.
Since it's obvious that people will be made to care no matter what, it would seem to behoove everyone to care right now.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
