Last year, 29-year-old Amy Marchant was sitting in church, breastfeeding her baby — because she’s a mother with a baby and that’s totally normal. But the staff at The Naz Church in Brighton, Michigan didn’t see it that way. One woman scolded her for inspiring “lustfulness” in the men around her.

Marchant was allegedly told to move to a private area of the church designed for nursing mothers, as if she couldn’t be seen feeding her baby in the room with everyone else. She also had no desire to move because she had her four-year-old twins with her and needed to look after them. The private room wasn’t an option for all of them.

The church eventually issued an apology, but Marchant sued them in June:

… Marchant is suing the church saying the apology was defamatory, invaded her privacy, violated the Breastfeeding Anti-Discrimination Act and committed a breach of contract.

The apology was defamatory, she said, because it was different than the one they presented her with earlier and said both breasts were fully exposed, which she denies.

In any case, both sides have now settled the case:

The case was settled Dec. 2, according to court records. Marchant did not say how much she received as part of the settlement but said it was less than $25,000. The settlement calls for the money to be donated to two breastfeeding organizations, Livingston County Birth Circle and Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor.

You have to wonder about the kind of men who would be caused to “lust and stumble,” as the church’s pastor said, by a woman feeding her infant, using her breasts for their biologically intended purpose. Perhaps they need a refresher course on what Jesus said if someone encounters a situation that might tempt them: “And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”

In other words, if they were troubled by Marchant feeding her child, they could have simply looked away.

