'Civil disobedience will be necessary': Christian family group sounds alarm on California's 'anti-hate speech' training
Gov. Newsom signs law that doesn't expressly exempt churches, religious groups
A Christian family group is warning that a new California “anti-hate speech” law may force the Church to practice civil disobedience.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1803 into law, which mandates that every California employer with five or more employees must add training on recognizing, reporting and confronting workplace speech that “vilifies, humiliates, or incites hatred” against people based on protected characteristics as part of existing harassment-prevention requirements.
The law does not increase the existing training hours, and it does not define "hate speech," according to legal analysis by the National Law Review. Employers whose training already covers prohibited harassment and abusive conduct based on protected characteristics will satisfy the requirement, according to Fisher Phillips.
It's set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2028, along with its sister legislation, AB 1578, which Newsom signed the same day. It requires paid local officials, including city council members, county supervisors and school board trustees, to receive "anti-hate speech" training as part of their existing harassment training, and directs the state to develop an online course "on responding to hate" for state officials, according to the California Family Council.
While AB 1803 contains no explicit exemption or conscience protection for churches or other religious organizations, existing California law generally exempts nonprofit religious associations and corporations from the state’s definition of “employer,” which may exempt them from AB 1803’s training mandate, according to the California Baptists for Biblical Values website.
However, the bill itself doesn't expressly offer any such exemption.
While gay and lesbian groups have applauded the legislation, AB 1803 has come under fire from a number of California pastors who are warning about the potential for government overreach when it comes to protecting church doctrine.
California Family Council Vice President Greg Burt is among those who say the law’s vague standards place traditional biblical teaching in the crosshairs. Burt says while many California legislators already view the belief that God created humans male and female as hateful, under the new rules, employers — including, potentially, churches — would be required to train staff to identify and confront such speech.
“Pastors and Christian employees should request religious accommodations,” Burt told Tony Perkins’ Washington Watch on Tuesday. “This is one of those points in history here in California where civil disobedience is going to be necessary.”
He also warned AB 1803’s vague language makes it critical for churches to stand up and tell the government to stay out of the pulpit.
“What I think the state is doing is trying to intimidate churches into following through with this,” he said. “They should not be receiving any sort of ideological training from the state on any moral issue.”
On Sept. 26, Newsom signed a separate six-bill LGBTQ package that strengthens privacy protections, expands support for LGBT-identified veterans, updates the state's conversion-therapy ban, enhances HIV prevention access and ensures resources for gay and lesbian students at satellite campuses of public higher-education institutions.
After signing the legislation, Newsom framed it as a response to White House-led attacks on the LGBT community.
“The Trump administration has launched an all-out assault on the [gay and lesbian] community, using medical records to target U.S. servicemembers and civilians alike, hurting countless people and betraying hard-won trust,” said Newsom in a press statement. “California will not stand for it.”
Newsom has a history of cracking down on churches, particularly during the Covid-19 era, when the governor ordered churches and other places of worship to shut down in July 2020 as part of his administration’s response to the pandemic.
The first governor to issue a stay-at-home order and the last governor to reopen schools, Newsom faced backlash over defiance of his own rules when he attended a dinner at the upscale French Laundry restaurant in Napa in November 2020, even as churches and other places of worship remain closed.
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ian.giatti@christianpost.com.
