By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Whatever happened to the simple Christian ideal of ‘judge not, lest ye be judged?’

And what ever happened to the simple concept of leaving innocent people alone to earn a living, as long as they’re doing their jobs satisfactorily?

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Nobody is claiming that Carla Hale was anything but a competent teacher. Yet she was fired from her job at a Columbus Catholic school in March.

Why? Because her mother died, and the obituary that appeared in a local newspaper listed Hale’s female domestic partner as a surviving family member.

Catholic Bishop Frederick Campbell publicly acknowledged that Hale was fired because she violated the teachings of the church by having a “quasi-spousal relationship” with another woman, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle.

Obviously the Catholic Church disapproves of many types of behaviors, and homosexuality is on that list. Nobody is questioning the right to the church to have its beliefs, or to hire or fire anyone it wants.

But there’s no question that the church acted in a small-minded, immoral manner by firing Hale. There were no accusations of her advertising her sexuality or living arrangements at school. There were no accusations of her making sexual advances to anyone at school, or recommending her lifestyle to students.

She was simply doing her job while she was at work, and living the way she chose to live when she went home. The fact that her lifestyle was inadvertently publicized in a newspaper obituary should not be a consideration.

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Who wins in this scenario? God? We’re pretty sure He will deal with all alleged sinners in his own time and own way. He doesn’t need our help.

Who loses? The students of the school where Hale taught. If she was indeed a quality teacher, there was no reason to deny her services to the children. It doesn’t appear they knew anything about her lifestyle, and we wonder how many of them would have cared if they did.

The Bible says we all sin in one way or the other. That includes Hale, Bishop Campbell, Pope Francis, President Obama, you and I.

It’s a good thing church officials don’t have cameras in the booths when teachers come to confession. They would learn that teachers are human and have faults, and they would probably have to fire them all for one type of indiscretion or another. Then who would teach?

This woman should have been left alone to do her job. She did nothing to deserve termination.