On Tuesday, North Dakotans resoundingly defeated Measure 3, the so-called Religious Liberation Restoration amendment, despite the fact that the measure had the support of the Catholic Church and evangelical leaders in the state.
The rejection of the measure by a 64 to 35 percent vote matters far beyond North Dakota, according to Sarah Stoesz, president of Planned Parenthood in Minnesota and North and South Dakota.
Stoesz believes that the vote should show politicians across the country that some of the loudest church organizations and leaders are not reflecting the views of their followers.
"The idea that religion is under attack is a red herring," Stoesz said. "Politicians should not be afraid to stand up to those making the charges."...
...As it happened, a front-page story in the Fargo Forum on the Saturday before Election Day seemed to show indirectly what happens when religion and profession get too tightly tied.
The story of Trish Cameron, the Moorhead teacher who was not rehired by St. Joseph's Catholic School after telling administrators that she didn't always personally believe in the tenets of the church. For example, she said, she supports the ideas of gays marrying. But she also made it clear that she never brought those beliefs into her fifth-grade classroom.
Cameron, who had taught at the school for 11 years, was fired for holding those beliefs.
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