Georgia doctor fired for preaching, files against state

Eric Walsh, a renowned public health doctor and formerly hired as Georgia's district health director, asserts to have been terminated from his job a day after giving copies of his sermons per request made by Department of Public Health (DPH). Walsh filed a lawsuit on April 20 for the alleged religious discrimination.

"No one in this country should be fired from their job for something that was said in a church or from pulpit during a sermon," Jeremy Dys, First Liberty attorney, told Fox News. "He was fired for something he said in a sermon. If the government is allowed to fire someone over what he said in sermons, they can come after any of us for our beliefs on anything," he added.

First Liberty, a firm known for defending religious freedom, stands for the Seventh-Day Adventist minister, accusing the government body of retaliation and religious discrimination. The lawsuit mentioned that workers were assigned to investigate his preaching, with topics covering health, religion, marriage, and sexuality.

The lawsuit further claimed that after his hiring on May 7, 2014, investigation was done over Walsh's public addresses and sermons, noting public comments on the Internet and his perspectives on various matters described as "public concern."

His contract with the DPH was officially rescinded on May 16, 2014.

"I don't believe I did anything wrong," Walsh told Fox News in an interview, adding, "This has been very painful for me. I am really a strong believer in the Constitution. But now, I feel like maybe all these ideals and values that I was raised to believe – the ideals the country was founded upon – no longer exist."

In an email to Blaze, Nancy Nydam, representative of DPH, stated that the decision was triggered by Walsh's failure to disclose his "outside employment," the knowledge of which came only in the routine background check for employees.

The offer given him was accordingly, conditional, subject to favorable background check results. Department policy states that secondary employment has to be disclosed and given appropriate approval. Said failure was a violation under the agency's policies and a violation of California law.

Adam maintained that Walsh's faith has nothing to do with his termination. She even stated that they knew already of his religious beliefs because he disclosed it in the job interview, including his preaching role in the church.