Moody Air Force Base (AFB) Ga., has removed a requirement that only Catholics need apply for a position as music director.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation was alerted to the July 15 job advertisement, which requested a āCatholic Music Director to provide worship services at Moody AFB Chapel.ā The job posting specified a requirement that āthe contractor shall maintain a lifestyle consistent with Catholic principlesā for the position, and that the applicant would ānot be required to perform duties that are incompatible with the Catholic faith.ā
FFRF Staff Attorney Sam Grover informed Moody Air Force Base on July 18 that it āmust modify the discriminatory solicitation to comport to the requirements of the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act.ā
Grover noted that the religious test violates the equal employment provisions of the Civil Rights Act, which guarantee that military departments may not discriminate on the basis of religion. He recommended they change the position titles āso as not to indicate a requirement that the contractor be Catholic.ā
Within 15 minutes of receiving the letter, an AFB representative called FFRF to apologize for the impermissible language in āall of the solicitationsā and indicated that Moody AFB intends to āmodify the verbiageā used in all of the baseās job postings as well as remove the āCatholic lifestyleā requirement.