ABSTRACT
This chapter looks in detail at a topic which has been touched on in earlier chapters: the perspectives of the churches themselves on whether the clergy should have rights under secular employment law. The emphasis is on Christian teachings and the attitudes of Christian churches because the Jewish and Islamic faiths see no problem with employment status for their ministers. It begins by asking the fundamental question of whether Christians should have recourse to secular tribunals to resolve disputes, and then at Christian teachings on the rights of workers on the basis that if secular workers should have rights, then why not the clergy also? It considers the ecclesiology of three Christian churches to see how this affects claims to employment status by their clergy and then looks at two particular case studies: the concept of incardination in the RC Church and the Canonical Oath of Obedience in the Anglican Church. In both cases, the question is whether these are incompatible with employment status. It then concludes by noting the position in Lutheran churches where clergy employment status seems to no pose no problem at all.
