A Florida chaplain claims he was fired from the hospital where he worked because he prayed in Jesus' name. The Rev. Danny Harvey was chaplain at Leesburg Regional Medical Center for more than seven years, but was forced to resign for what the hospital said were “concerns” raised by patients.
Harvey does not take God lightly.
“He’s done everything for me," he told a Fox affiliate in Orlando, Fla. "He is my Savior; He is my Redeemer; He is the Restorer of who I am.”
But those beliefs appear to have cost him his job. In a statement, hospital officials said Harvey’s pastoral care was “not consistent with and respectful of various faith beliefs.”
Harvey said he never pushed his faith on anyone.
“If you were Jewish, I would get somebody from the Jewish synagogue; if you’re Muslim, I’d do my very, very best to get someone there to meet your need," he said. "But if you ask me to pray, I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to my God that I know through Christ.”
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said Harvey may have a case under the Civil Rights Act.
“If he’s been there for years … I would consider a few complaints as amounting to nothing," he told Family News in Focus. “Theoretically, he could bring a federal lawsuit alleging religious discrimination.”
Hausknecht said asking a Christian chaplain not to pray in Jesus' name is like asking a carpenter to work without a hammer.
