[Why am not surprised that Des Moines "Redstar" Alumnus Dennis Ryerson is involved in this? Lest you have any doubt about the Register/Gannet's commitment to "tolerance" and diversity of opinion here's the ironic hypocracy for all to see. I will remember this the next time I have to see the next banal piece in the Register by one of their incompetent, college paper-level "journalists" chastising Iowans for their lack of diversity and acceptance of others (which is almost daily) or the astute analysis of the racial breakdown of State Fair attendees]
Christians Need Not Apply
By Patrick J. Ashby
James Patterson never thought he would lose his job for expressing his opinion. As an editorial writer for The Indianapolis Star, his job was precisely that writing what he thought. Over the past 16 years, Patterson voiced his opinion through editorials in The Star on a wide array of topics, ranging from politics and elections to business and education. But when he added a dash of religious sentiment to a recent editorial concerning U.S. troops in Iraq, the message proved to be a recipe for his termination.
The incident began in March 2003 when The Star, formerly a conservative, Christian-leaning paper, was bought by Gannet, America's biggest newspaper group in terms of circulation. Gannet, which also owns USA Today, is now trying to "provide more balance to [the] opinion page columns in The Star [to] reflect a strong and consistent philosophical view without being overtly partisan," according to the new executive editor, Dennis Ryerson.
As such, Patterson believes he was on Ryerson's hit list as the result of an editorial in which he urged readers to "pray for the safety of our soldiers" After the editorial, titled "Pray for peace in this time of war," was published, Ryerson handed Patterson sub-par performance ratings, dissected his writing, and forced him to receive pre-approval for future editorial topics. Patterson was eventually fired and escorted from the building, simply for asking Americans to keep U.S. soldiers in their thoughts.
Patterson, who is a Christian, did not ask the people of Indianapolis to pray to any specific deity, nor did he stipulate the manner in which the praying should take place. With no specific religion identified in the article, any number of readers could interpret the invocation in a variety of ways, rendering the column harmless and appropriate.
Even though the editorial is not overtly Christian, a closer look at common threads at The Star reveals an anti-Christian trend.
Lisa Coffey, who also wrote editorials for The Star, was removed from the editorial board and demoted to the copy desk after Ryerson refused to run a series of pieces she wrote about the dangers of sodomy. (The series was not an open outcry against homosexuality, but an analysis of the dangers associated with sodomy.) After 14 years with the paper, Coffey resigned in October 2003 following a heated e-mail exchange in which she and Ryerson engaged in a debate over Christianity.
This past June, Patterson and Coffey filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis against The Star, alleging, among other things, religious discrimination. They claim they were terminated because of their views on Christianity, including a Biblical stance on homosexuality.
"Religious discrimination in the workplace" usually does not invoke notions of prejudice against Christians. Most often, the phrase summons thoughts of a Jewish employee scheduled to work on Saturdays, a Muslim kept from breaks for prayer, or a Sikh banned from wearing his turban. Since Christianity is the most popular religion in America, and because Christian beliefs were used to create the nation's founding documents, it is widely assumed Christians are free from discrimination. After all, non-Christians are confronted with Christian phrases each time the President ends a speech, the "Pledge of Allegiance" is recited, or American currency passes hands. Even when someone sneezes.
But Christians are often subjected to occupational religious discrimination in America. Christianity, the most widely held belief in the country, is often discouraged and suppressed in the workplace, motivating some employees to take legal action.
Employees like AT&T Broadband's Albert Buonanno. In January 2001, Buonanno refused to sign a "certificate of understanding," in which each employee would agree to "respect and value the differences among all of us."
In accordance with his Christian faith, Buonanno believed he could not respect or value homosexuality, which he sees as a sin. After deciding the employee certificate contradicted his religion, Buonanno snubbed the document and was fired.
In April 2004, Buonanno sued, and defeated, his employer in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado for $146,269 in lost salary, benefits, and punitive damages. While a spokesperson for AT&T said the court ruling undermined the company's effort "to foster diversity and nondiscrimination in the workplace," Judge Marcia Krieger decided that AT&T could have better respected Buonanno's beliefs in accordance with the Civil Rights Act.
Since Buonanno's religion prevents him from respecting or valuing homosexuality, he should have been asked to simply tolerate the lifestyle of his co-workers and refrain from infringing upon their rights. In this scenario, no employee is forced to forego his religion or lifestyle for another.
But the anti-Christian sentiments do not end there.
The University of Colorado at Boulder may not invite Professor Phil Mitchell to teach next year because he is an evangelical Christian. Mitchell has been at the university for more than 20 years and was named "Teacher of the Year" in 1998. His required reading, "In His Steps" by Charles Sheldon, has received the most ardent criticism from his colleagues. Mitchell assigns the 1897 book to his students to "reveal Protestant liberal values at the turn of the century."
This trend should come as no surprise to regular TAE readers. In the September 2002 issue, which discusses a lack of political diversity on college campuses, TAE reported that 28 professors at the University of ColoradoÂ’s history department were registered with a political party of the Left, as opposed to one professor on the Right. (The campus-wide total for professors at the university was 116 on the Left, five on the Right.)
TAE also reported, in the June 2003 issue, the story of Patrick Cubbage, an honor guard at a New Jersey veterans cemetery, who was fired for offering blessings to a widow as he handed her the folded U.S. flag. Cubbage, a Vietnam veteran, was told by his supervisor that saying "God bless you and your family" would offend people of a non-Christian faith. On October 31, 2002, Cubbage offered those blessings to a widow—after he cleared the phrase with a member of the funeral procession—and was let go. While state officials ordered Cubbage reinstated, he had to reapply for his job as a rookie and promise to refrain from offering blessings at future ceremonies.
While each minority religion should be tolerated in the workplace, let us not undermine the Christian majority. Trampling on the rights of Christians in the workplace does not secure rights for non-Christians.
Editorials invoking prayer for troops are reasonable. Columns discussing the dangers of sodomy are reasonable. Refusing to respect and value, but agreeing to tolerate, homosexuality is reasonable. Assigning Christian books and offering political diversity is reasonable. And thanking a family for the ultimate sacrifice to their country with a blessing is certainly reasonable.
What is unreasonable is that any American should lose his job simply for practicing the Christian faith.