City Suspends Pastor Pending Review of Sermons
Public Health Director Eric Walsh of Pasadena, CA, is a bivocational minister. He works for a church, and he works for the City of Pasadena.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Walsh is an associate pastor at Altadena Seventh-day Adventist Church in California, and he was hired as Pasadena’s Public Health Director in 2010. But his employer, the City of Pasadena, has placed him on temporary paid administrative leave following statements he made to his church concerning homosexuality and evolution.
“In sermons uploaded to various websites, Walsh, a Seventh-day Adventist preacher, calls evolution ‘a religion created by Satan,’ compares Disney to a ‘dark empire’ of superstition and witchcraft, and criticizes homosexuality. . . .
“[City spokesman William] Boyer said the city placed Walsh on leave because time is needed to review the online sermons and conduct an inquiry into his ability to lead the department.”
Here’s a question: What does a man’s opinion of the Disney corporation have to do with his ability to work as Public Health Director? Are his views on evolution affecting his ability to conduct restaurant inspections? Do his beliefs about homosexuality prevent him from working with low-income HIV/AIDS patients–something Pasadena’s Health Department has done under his watch? Or is this actually about expressing views the city finds disagreeable?