This is how anti-Christian some city governments have become. A fire chief was told by city officials to "improve the leadership skills of his staff members". He selected the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, and three other staff members decided to attend. Despite the fact that all four of them paid to attend the event out of their own money, and despite the fact that the event had speakers from both secular and religious backgrounds, the city decided to fire him (terminate his employment). Why? Because the event was held in a church. Thus the city considered it as a "religious event". Fire Chief Ron Hittle worked for the city of Stockton, California. He had worked for the city for 24 years. A lower court decision has already decided the city had the right to fire him, so it might go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, if that court decides to take up the case. David Hacker, Fox News, March 30, 2023
I think the main issue was that the event was not entirely 100% non-religious, and had some religious elements, even though it was mostly non-religious. But the part that took the cake and sealed the deal was that it took place inside a church building (which only reinforced the idea that it was "religious"). There may of course have been some other factors involved in the city's decision to terminate him, but the city's letter cited this event as the most egregious offense. from the article: Attendance at the so-called 'religious event' was specifically mentioned in the notice of termination issued by the city to Chief Hittle. The city's investigator determined it was one of Chief Hittle's "most serious acts of alleged misconduct." Stockton has been known to do this sort of thing before, the city council is run by political-social activists. I'm imagining the city council really didn't like the idea of having a Christian fire chief who might be sharing his faith (even if only in a more subtle way), viewing government as a no-religion zone.
Article seems deceptive. I refer to https://casetext.com/case/hittle-v-city-of-stockton-4 From the court ruling, it seems that the City did not consider the event religious, and did not base their dismissal of Hittle on it being religious. Attendance to a religious event was certainly mentioned in the notice of termination, but not as a reason for termination, but as a background for several other offences, including misuse of City time and vehicles, favouritism in deciding who got to go to the seminar, and not disclosing Hittle's own financial interest in picking that particular seminar. The court ruled: Defendants have shown multiple legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for Plaintiff's termination and Plaintiff has not shown sufficient evidence of pretext to survive summary judgment. So it seems that when you "think" the main issue was religion, and when you "imagine" what the city council thinks, etc, you're adding pieces of information to the story that weren't actually there.
