Another Quaker teacher fired over California's loyalty oath

Hat tip to Common Dreams:

Published on Friday, May 2, 2008 by The Los Angeles Times

Teacher Fired For Refusing To Sign Loyalty Oath

Cal State system ousts another instructor who objects on religious grounds to a pledge adopted by California in 1952 to root out communists.

Here's my choice for a pull-quote from this article:

The loyalty oath was added to the state Constitution by voters in 1952 to root out communists in public jobs. Now, 16 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, its main effect is to weed out religious believers, particularly Quakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Note that the oath itself is part of the California state constitution, and is thus literally constitutional at the state level, and I believe it has been litigated in the federal courts. What's less clear is how much leeway or interpretation is allowed the state employee. Previously, Quaker Marianne Kearney-Brown was reinstated at Cal State East Bay after the Attorney General's office issued an opinion saying that "defending the constitution" did not require taking up arms.