The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer spent part of yesterday’s program talking about the arguments in the Hobby Lobby case, including the fear that if the Supreme Court exempts the business from the contraception coverage mandate, it could open the door to broad religious exemptions from many types of employment regulations .
Fischer declared that this fear was preposterous, because, he claimed, nobody would ever sue on religious grounds to evade the minimum wage requirement (which Fischer said that he in fact has religious objections to) or to discriminate in hiring on the basis of gender. But he then went directly on to tell about how he himself had discriminated on the basis of gender when he was hiring for receptionist and secretary positions at his church.
“I wanted the most welcoming, inviting, hospitable voice I could find on our end of the line,” he said. “And I said, guys, don’t bother to apply. I’m discriminating on the basis of gender here, males need not apply for this position.”
“One of the things that God has built into women,” he continued, “I believe, is he’s designed them to be warm, to be hospitable, to be open-hearted, to be open-handed, to have their arms open, to be welcoming, to be receptive, to create a nurturing, welcoming environment.
“I’ve got other jobs I want guys to do in the church, but this job is going to be reserved for a woman because of the unique things that God has built into women.”
He then invited the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to sue him.