By Bob Allen
Former Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran has filed a federal lawsuit against the city claiming he was fired because of his religious beliefs.
Cochran, a member and deacon at Southern Baptist-affiliated Elizabeth Baptist Church, was fired Jan. 6 after a month-long suspension to investigate concerns about a devotional book he wrote for Christian men that included passages condemning homosexuality.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said views expressed the book and comments he made to church groups during his suspension raised questions about the chief’s ability to effectively lead a diverse fire department workforce.
Cochran’s suspension and subsequent dismissal prompted a national debate over religion in the workplace. The Georgia Baptist Convention weighed in Dec. 15 with a statement calling on the Christian community to “stand up for biblical principles and fellow believers who are punished or marginalized for their faith.”
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta Feb. 18 by attorneys with the national conservative advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, claims Cochran followed proper procedure in notifying his superiors about his plans to write a book on his free time about ideas developed after leading a men’s Bible study at his church of the Bible verse Gen. 3:11, when God arraigns Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with the question, “Who told you that you were naked?”
Cochran’s self-published book, Who Told You That You Were Naked?: Overcoming the Stronghold of Condemnation, “is not about sexual morality,” the lawsuit says, but “does, however, address sexual morality on a few of its 162 pages.”
“The book teaches that pursing sex outside the confines of marriage between a man and woman — including fornication, homosexual acts, and all other types of non-marital sex — is contrary to God’s will,” the suit says.
Cochran gave gift copies of the book to the mayor, some members of the city council and people in the fire department who either asked for one or he knew were identified as Christians. Nobody had a problem, he says, until the book came to attention of an openly gay council member who complained to the city’s human resources commissioner.
The lawsuit accuses Atlanta officials of violating Cochran’s First Amendment rights to free speech, free exercise of religion and freedom of association, along with the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law. It seeks his reinstatement, plus monetary compensation for “lost wages, costs associated with Cochran finding new employment, and humiliation, emotional distress, inconvenience, and loss of reputation.”
“Americans are guaranteed to live without fear of being fired because of their beliefs and their thoughts, and the city of Atlanta is not above the Constitution and federal law,” said attorney David Cortman, senior counsel and vice-president of religious liberty at the Alliance Defending Freedom’s regional service center in Atlanta. “In America, a religious or ideological test cannot be used to fire a public servant.”
Cochran, who was born into poverty and credits values instilled by his Christian parents with helping him to succeed, said those same faith values wound up getting him fired.
“Those principles that I was taught as a kid — faith in God and respect authority and treat other people like you want to be treated — really fed by career success and my life success,” Cochran said.
Several Georgia Baptist leaders participated in rally on Cochran’s behalf at the state capitol Jan. 14. The convention urged Georgia Baptists to support House Bill 218, the Preventing Government Overreach on Religious Expression Act, Feb. 6 in the Christian Index.
Another group, Faith in Public Life, also gathered at the capitol Jan. 14 opposing the measure as unneeded and potentially discriminatory against gays. Speakers included James Lamkin, pastor of Northside Drive Baptist Church in Atlanta, and Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of First Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga., both congregations aligned with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
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