DENVER--A federal court awarded Albert Buonanno more than $140,000 in a civil rights lawsuit he filed against his former employer, AT&T, who fired him after he refused to sign the company's diversity policy, according to Agape Press.

Buonnano objected to language in the policy that said "each person at AT&T Broadband is charged with the responsibility to fully recognize, respect and value the differences among all of us," including sexual orientation, according to the Washington Times.

"This issue is about more than an objection to homosexuality," John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, the group that represented Mr. Buonanno, told the Times.

"It concerns the freedom of conscience -- the right of individuals to object to something they believe is wrong, especially when it contradicts their religious beliefs, whether it is war, abortion, homosexuality or a number of other issues," he said.

A spokesman for Comcast, which owns AT&T Broadband, said, the company "is disappointed in the court's ruling," which they said appears to ignore attempts by companies "to foster diversity and nondiscrimination in the workplace."

The judge found that although there was no direct religious discrimination against Mr. Buonanno, AT&T Broadband failed to show it could not have accommodated Mr. Buonanno's beliefs "without undue hardship" to the company he had been with for nearly two years.

The Civil Rights Act requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs of employees unless the employer can show it will create an undue hardship on the company to do so.

Mr. Buonanno felt his Christian beliefs prevented him from valuing or agreeing with homosexuality, which he views as a sin, but he pledged not to discriminate against or harass anyone, Whitehead said.

According to Whitehead, Buonanno's victory was largely due to his integrity -- the very quality that made it impossible for him to sign off on the diversity policy in the first place.

Whitehead said similar cases are becoming more and more common.

"We're getting increasing e-mails from people saying that they're not going to buckle under these kind of things," Whitehead said, "and so I think this Buonanno case sends a message to Christians -- and to conservative Jewish people who have contacted us -- that they can stand up and fight these kind of policies."

AT&T's broadband division has since been bought out by Comcast, which has changed its diversity policy.