PBS' Religion and Ethics Newsweekly ran a segment on the Supreme Court's investigation of the ministerial exception, featuring interviews with attorneys involved as well as advocates on both sides. Rabbi David Saperstein made an especially great, succinct contribution:
RABBI DAVID SAPERSTEIN (Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism): It seems all of us, even those of us who are deeply committed to civil rights, to protection of disability rights, to preventing retaliation for claims believe strongly that church autonomy and the ministerial exception are indispensable to religious freedom.
Rabbi Saperstein is right on, in both points. Support for church autonomy and the ministerial exception with regard to employment does not imply a lack of commitment to civil rights or disability rights.
