It is hard to trust Mozilla Firefox with my browsing activities. They seem to have taken sides in the culture wars in a very mean and personal way, and that takes away my trust.
The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us.
Mozilla has now made its employment policy clear.
No Catholics need apply.
Or Evangelical Christians.
Or Eastern Orthodox.
Or Orthodox Jews.
Or Mormons.
Or Muslims.
Unless, that is, you are the “right kind” of Catholic, Evangelical, Eastern Orthodox Christian, observant Jew, Mormon, or Muslim, namely, the kind who believes your religious or philosophical tradition is wrong about the nature of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife, and the view now dominant among secular elites is correct. In that case, Mozilla will consider you morally worthy to work for them. Or maybe you can work for them even if you do happen to believe (or should I say “believe”) your faith’s teaching—so long as you keep your mouth shut about it: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Terry Mattingly at Get Religion blog, wondering why nobody is asking if religious discrimination was involved here:
So beliefs truly mattered in this case. The question again, for journalists: What are the private beliefs that are under fire, here? In effect, is he being judged for ancient moral and doctrinal beliefs that are held by orthodox believers in Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc.?
Some impressions: Many across the country stood up for Brendan Eich. No one at Mozilla apparently did. That gives me the impression that Mozilla is not a very diverse place. Was Brendan Eich the only social conservative there? What does that tell you about Mozilla’s hiring practices and culture? How many observant Catholics work at Mozilla? How many observant Muslims? I would like Mozilla to show with evidence that it is truly open to all people of all religious faiths before I use its browser again.
My guess is that they at least have some observant Catholics sweeping the floors or cleaning the toilets. It is pretty clear that such employees will have no hope to be CEO some day.