Politics
Tuesday June 26, 2007
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
Ohio Teachers May Refuse Dues Because of Union Abortion Support: Ohio Court
By Hilary White
June 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Once Carol Katter, an Ohio teacher, had rejected the suggestion by a union official that she “change religions” in order to be able to claim the right to conscientious objection about the destination of her union dues, she took her case to court. Katter objected to the fact that teachers in Ohio must pay union dues to the Ohio Education Association (OEA), a portion of which dues goes to support abortion.
Yesterday, however, an Ohio federal district court ruled as unconstitutional a rule restricting to particular denominations the right to religious-based objection to union dues.
In January, Katter, a lifelong Catholic and mathematics and language arts instructor, filed a complaint against the Ohio State Employment Relations Board (SERB) and the Ohio Education Association (OEA) union, a state affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA), claiming that the requirement to pay dues violated her constitutional right to the free practice of her religious beliefs.
The National Education Association (NEA) is a fervent supporter of abortion and is active in the homosexual political movement to redefine marriage and promote homosexuality.
The Catholic teacher, however, soon discovered that only members of the Seventh-day Adventist and Mennonite churches were recognized by the union as exempted from paying the dues. Katter “pleaded” with union officials to have her dues diverted to charity, but the union refused and told her she needed to “change religions” to get the exemption.
According to Katter her request was refused, “Basically because I could not come up with proof that my individual church - not the Catholic faith, but my individual church - had a record of anyone having successfully fought a union.”
Katter said that she “very excited” about the recent court ruling in her favor. "There are a lot of employees and teachers who do not know about this and have always thought that they just had no choice but to pay their dues," she said. "I'm thrilled about what it means for us to have the freedom not to support something we object to on moral grounds."
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
U.S. Teacher’s Union Lists Favorable Review of Abstinence Then Blasts It
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06100507.html
US National Education Association to Endorse Same-Sex ‘Marriage’
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06071102.html
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Levant Target of Latest Human Rights Complaint By Homosexual Activist
- Bishop Calls Modern Cultural Changes "Pleasing" to the Devil
- Australian Woman Dies from Taking Birth Control Pill
- Is it True McCain "Got the Message" About not Running a Pro-Abortion VP?
- Petition of 30,000 Canadians Asks Governor General to Rescind Order of Canada to Abortionist
- Freedom of Conscience for Ontario Doctors: Public Comment Extended to September 12
- Promote Culture of Life and Catholic Teaching to Combat Rising Crime and Cultural Degradation: Lancaster Bishop
- Success with Re-growing Horse Ligaments Leads to New NIH Adult Stem Cell Centre
- Lithuanian Government Bans EU Pro-Homosexual Tour Truck
- Guatemalan Cardinal on Abortion: "It is just as serious to kill a 10 year-old child"
- MP Ken Epp responds to the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada's Claims about Unborn Victims of Crime Bill
- Health Minister: Safe-Injection Sites a "Surrender to a Culture of Disease and Death."
- Indiana County Commission Upholds Regulations on Abortions under Criticism
- Statistics Canada Finds More Abstinence among Teen Girls in the Last Decade
- Exclusive: Retiring UK Bishop Reveals No Consensus among Brother Bishops over Same-sex Adoption
- California Supreme Court Rules Doctors Must Provide Treatment against Their Religious Beliefs
Most Read this Week
- Westminster Exorcist: Promiscuity can Lead to Demonic Possession
- Secret Meeting to Plot Global Abortion Strategy Exposed - UN Personnel Present
- Batman The Dark Knight - Should We Fear Imitation of the Joker?
- Massive Brazilian Vaccination Raises Suspicions of Covert Sterilization Program
- Niece of Martin Luther King Jr. to Lead Prayer Vigil Outside Largest U.S. Abortion Centre - Monday August 25
- Obama Caught Red-Handed in Abortion Lie
- New England Journal of Medicine: 'Brain Death' is not Death - Organ Donors are Alive
- HPV Vaccine Causes 21 Deaths and Counting - CDC Study Launched
- Traditional Fort Worth Episcopal Priests Seek Communion with Catholic Church
- Homeschooling Showdown in Brazil: Children to be Tested by Court in Battle Over Educational Rights of Parents
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.