Included is a New York Times article and a FOX article
Atlanta Mayor Reed
Atlanta Fire Chief Cochrane
Atlanta Fire Chief: I was fired because of my Christian faith“It’s a frightening day in the United States when a person cannot express their faith without fears of persecution following,” White told me. “It’s persecution when a godly fire chief loses his job over expressing his Christian faith.”
“That’s the day that God convicted me in my heart that I wanted to be a firefighter when I grew up,” Cochran said. “All I thought about growing up in Shreveport was not being poor and being a firefighter.”
Kelvin Cochran was five-years-old when he realized that he wanted to be a firefighter.
“My family was very, very poor,” Cochran told me. “We were living in a shotgun house in an alley – three big brothers, two little sisters.”
One Sunday afternoon the Cochran children heard a fire truck stop across from their neighbor’s home. Miss Maddie’s house was one fire.
And God granted Kelvin Cochran the desires of his heart. The little boy in the shotgun shack grew up to become the fire chief of Shreveport. He was named the Atlanta fire chief in 2008 – a position he served until 2009 when was called to serve in the Obama Administration as a fire administrator. In 2010 he returned to Atlanta where he was unanimously confirmed to once again be the city’s fire chief.
But now Chief Cochran’s storied career is up in smoke – all because of a book he wrote for a men’s Bible study group at his Baptist church.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced Tuesday that Cochran had been fired. The announcement came on the same day Cochran was supposed to return to work following a 30-day suspension.
“The LGBT members of our community have a right to be able to express their views and convictions about sexuality and deserve to be respected for their position without hate or discrimination,” Cochran told me in an exclusive interview. “But Christians also have a right to express our belief regarding our faith and be respected for our position without hate and without discrimination. In the United States, no one should be vilified, hated or discriminated against for expressing their beliefs.”
Cochran had been suspended in November because of a passage he wrote about homosexuality in a book titled, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” The book’s theme is about biblical morality.
“This is about judgment,” Mayor Reed said during a Tuesday press conference. “This is not about religious freedom. This is not about free speech. Judgment is the basis of the problem.”
Last November the mayor posted a public condemnation of the fire chief on his official Facebook page.
“I profoundly disagree with and am deeply disturbed by the sentiments expressed in the paperback regarding the LGBT community,” the mayor wrote. “I will not tolerate discrimination of any kind within my administration.”
The mayor went on to inform the public that Cochran had been suspended without pay and was ordered to complete a sensitivity training class.
“I want to be clear that the material in Chief Cochran’s book is not representative of my personal beliefs, and is inconsistent with the Administration’s work to make Atlanta a more welcoming city for all of her citizens -- regardless of their sexual orientation, gender, race and religious beliefs,” Mayor Reed wrote.
So what in the world did Cochran write that was so offensive to the mayor and the LGBT community?
According to the GA Voice, a publication that covers the LGBT community, there were two items that caused concern:
“Uncleanness – whatever is opposite of purity; including sodomy, homosexuality, lesbianism, pederasty, bestiality, all other forms of sexual perversion.”
“Naked men refuse to give in, so they pursue sexual fulfillment through multiple partners, with the opposite sex, the same sex, and sex outside of marriage and many other vile, vulgar and inappropriate ways which defile their body – temple and dishonor God.”
Cochran said he referenced homosexuality on less than a half a page in the 160-page book.
“I did not single out homosexuality,” he said. ‘I simply spoke to sex being created by God for pro-creation and He intended it to be between a man and a woman in holy matrimony – and that any other sex outside of that is sin.”
Cochran told me that someone within the department obtained a copy of the book and took it to openly-gay city council member Alex Wan.
Wan released a statement supporting Cochran’s termination and said it “sends a strong message to employees about how much we value diversity and how we adhere to a non-discriminatory environment.”
The book caused a firestorm within Atlanta’s LGBT community and there were many calls for him to be fired – a decision the mayor finally agreed to.
“I guess they got what they asked for,” Cochran said.
Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham told GA Voice Cochran’s “anti-gay” views could result in a hostile work environment.
“This is not about his religious views but his about his ability to lead a diverse work force,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this had to happen. I feel the mayor has done the right thing to ensure all employees are treated fairly.”
The allegations against Cochran amount to a he-said, he-said between the fire chief and the mayor.
Reed said that he had no knowledge that Cochran was writing a book. However, Cochran said the director of Atlanta’s ethics office had not only given him permission to write the book, but to also mention in his biography that he was the city’s fire chief.
Cochran said he gave a copy of the book to Mayor Reed in January, 2014 and the mayor told him he planned on reading it during an upcoming trip.
Cochran also admitted that he gave copies of the book to several members of the fire department – individuals with whom he had personal relationships.
The mayor also took issue with Cochran speaking publicly about his suspension. However, Cochran said he honored the mayor’s guidance and did not speak to the media. He did, however, share his testimony in several churches.
“I did not dishonor him in the process,” Cochran told me.
Cochran wants to make clear that he does not hate anyone.
“The essence of the Christian faith is a love without condition, sir,” he told me. “I have demonstrated that love in the fire service for 34 years. There’s not any person of any people group that has interacted with me for any measure of time that can say I have hate or disregard or discrimination in my heart for any people group.”
Cochran’s plight has drawn condemnation from a number of religious groups across Georgia including the influential Georgia Baptist Convention.
“This is appalling,” said Robert White, president of the Georgia Baptist Convention. “This has everything to do with his religious beliefs.”
White told me he believes the mayor succumbed to pressure from the city’s LGBT community.
“It’s a frightening day in the United States when a person cannot express their faith without fears of persecution following,” he told me. “It’s persecution when a godly fire chief loses his job over expressing his Christian faith.”
And the fire chief’s firing could spark public protests and demonstrations from the state’s Christian community.
“We’re past the point of taking a public stand,” White told me. “Christians must stand up for their rights.”
Cochran told me he is considering his legal options – but one thing is certain. He has no desire to get his old job back.
“I believe God has greater things for me,” the father and grandfather said. “I love the fire services. It’s a childhood dream come true.”
And don’t go feeling sorry for Chief Cochran.
“I’m not discouraged and I’m not downtrodden,” he said. “This is a God thing and He’s going to do great things and He will vindicate me publicly.”[/quote]
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/01/ ... ian-faith/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/12/us/at ... .html?_r=0Religious Bias Issues Debated After Atlanta Mayor’s Dismissal of Fire ChiefATLANTA — Mayor Kasim Reed’s decision to dismiss his fire chief last week for giving co-workers copies of a Christian self-help book condemning homosexuality is fanning new kinds of legal and political flames in this city, where deeply held religious convictions exist in a kind of defining tension with a reputation for New South tolerance.
Mr. Reed fired Kelvin Cochran, the chief, on Tuesday over the distribution of his book, which condemns homosexual acts as “vile, vulgar and inappropriate.” Reached at home on Thursday, Mr. Cochran referred all questions to his lawyers, who issued a statement on his behalf.
“I am heartbroken that I will no longer be able to serve the city and the people I love as fire chief, for no reason other than my Christian faith,” Mr. Cochran said in the statement released by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based conservative legal organization that is representing him. “It’s ironic that the city points to tolerance and inclusion as part of its reasoning. What could be more intolerant and exclusionary than ending a public servant’s 30 years of distinguished service for his religious beliefs?”
Those sentiments are particularly weighty in Atlanta, where the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a hometown hero, remains a moral guidepost for governance. As a legal matter, the spat may eventually be settled in court: Greg Scott, a spokesman for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said that the chief and his lawyers were “currently assessing legal options” that might “vindicate his right to free speech.”
But the case has already proved to be a major headache for Mr. Reed, one of the most powerful Democrats in elected office in the South.
The mayor argued that his firing of the chief had nothing to do with Mr. Cochran’s Christian faith, but rather with a lack of judgment on the part of a man charged with managing a 750-member department.
Mr. Reed said that the chief failed to follow proper protocol in receiving approvals from city officials to publish his book, a claim that Mr. Cochran disputes. Mr. Reed also said that Mr. Cochran opened the city to possible discrimination lawsuits.
Beth Littrell, a senior lawyer in the Southern regional office of Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights group, called Mr. Reed’s decision “courageous.”
“You can’t couch bigotry and create an intimidating environment at work, and cloak it in your beliefs and not expect to have consequences,” Ms. Littrell said.
But conservatives and religious organizations were outraged. The Georgia Baptist Convention has organized an online petition demanding that the firing be reversed. The evangelist Franklin Graham, in an opinion piece for a religious news site, called Mr. Cochran the “latest target of politically correct bullying against Bible-believing Christians.”
On Twitter, State Representative Christian Coomer, a Republican from Cartersville, Ga., called Mr. Reed the “anti-free speech, anti-religious freedom, anti-free press mayor of Atlanta.”
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Mr. Reed said Friday that his email inbox had been flooded with hundreds of messages per day criticizing the decision. And it could eventually become unwanted baggage for the ambitious, 45-year-old mayor, whose tenure will end in 2018 because of term limits.
If Mr. Reed ever ventures beyond Atlanta and into a race for statewide office, the incident could end up hurting him among rural, Christian whites, who, as a rule, tend to be wary of Atlanta politicians. But the mayor said that he had no regrets.
“I think it’s more important that I’m able to look myself in the mirror,” he said, adding: “In any future campaign I’ll be happy to talk about my record in office — and I’d be happy to talk about my termination of Kelvin Cochran.”
More pressing is the possible effect that Mr. Cochran’s firing could have on a continuing debate over whether Georgia needs a so-called religious freedom law, which would give more legal sway to individuals who challenge state and local government policies that they believe to be discriminatory.
Such a bill has been pre-filed in the State House of Representatives in anticipation of the coming legislative session, which starts Monday. Mr. Cochran’s firing has already been cited by some of the bill’s Republican supporters as an example of the kind of religious persecution Georgians face.
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Many of Mr. Cochran’s supporters are also supporting the bill.
Last year, similar legislation died in the Republican-controlled Legislature after critics said that it would have allowed individuals and businesses to discriminate against gays on religious grounds.
The most significant opposition came from international corporations like Delta Air Lines, which have transformed Atlanta into a regional economic powerhouse. In a statement last year, Delta said that such bills would violate the company’s “core values of mutual respect.”
State Senator Josh McKoon, a sponsor of the legislation last year, said that nothing in the bills, last year or this year, would have allowed businesses to discriminate against gay people. He said that the news media and the business community conflated the Georgia bill with high-profile legislation in Arizona, under debate around the same time, that would have allowed businesses to discriminate against gays. (The Arizona bill, which passed the state legislature, was vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, last February.)
Mr. McKoon is eager to bring up the matter again in the coming session. So far, the business community remains opposed: In December, Trey Childress, a former chief operating officer for two Republican governors, sent lawmakers a letter urging them to once again vote no. Mr. Childress said he had written the letter on behalf of a coalition of businesses called Competitive Georgia.
“Georgia is better than this,” Mr. Childress wrote. “Our reputation, as a state, is at risk.”
It remains to be seen if grass-roots anger over Mr. Cochran’s firing will overtake objections of the business class. Mr. Reed is among those who oppose the bill, and he said it is likely that the corporate sector still has the upper hand. Still, he could not mask his frustration with Mr. Cochran.
“I hired him to put out fires,” Mr. Reed said. “Not to create them.”
