Posted on 01/06/2004 3:50:25 PM PST by machman
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that Hewlett-Packard Co. did not violate the rights of a devout Christian employee when it fired him for posting Biblical scriptures on his cubicle that were critical of homosexuality.
The San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that HP did not discriminate against Richard Peterson when it fired him after he posted quotes from the Bible in his cubicle in response to company posters featuring gay employees.
The HP posters, which carried the slogan "Diversity is Our Strength," were part of an effort to promote the computer and printer maker's bid to hire and retain a diverse work force.
Peterson was fired for insubordination after refusing to remove the biblical postings, which managers determined could be viewed as offensive.
Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote that Peterson, a veteran HP employee who worked in HP's Boise, Idaho office, had failed to provide evidence he was sacked for his religious beliefs.
Instead, Reinhardt held Peterson was fired for repeatedly disregarding instructions to remove his biblical postings, including one from Leviticus explicitly addressing homosexuality.
A passage, which Peterson had conceded was "intended to be hurtful," reads: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."
Judge Reinhardt said it would have been an "undue hardship" for HP to have accommodated Peterson's demands that he be allowed to post scriptures in response to the posters, or that he remove his postings in exchange for HP taking down its posters promoting diversity.
Either option would have also hurt the company's efforts to "attract and retain a qualified, diverse work force, which the company reasonably views as vital to its commercial success," Reinhardt wrote.
Lawyers for Peterson and Palo Alto, California-based HP could not be immediately reached for comment.
Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service
The crimes these believers were charged with......crimes against humanity....hate crimes... They quoted Christ and the bible ..urging sinners to repent ...reminding them of what God's thoughts were on the proclivities and sins of their day...
Well, actually, Joe, the offical charge against the Christians was their failure/refusal to worship the state god, thereby putting the state (Rome) "at risk". The authorities didn't much care who else the Christians, or anyone else for that matter, worshipped as long as the state god was leading the parade. B/c of this "stiffed necked pride" the Christians quickly became the universal scape-goats.
Because it is cheaper to hire unqualified minorities than it is to be sued until they 'comply.'
Ditto!
(As usual, if you would like to be added to or removed from my "conservative Catholics" ping list, please send me a FReepmail.)
Dude, I live in San Francisco, California, home of the Ninth Circuit and Mecca of radical gays, and I tell you with no touch of sarcasm or irony that the militant homosexuals are working on the above scenario becoming a reality. Already, this city and the state of California have surreptiously shoved through laws preventing "looksism" -- discriminating against ugly and/or obese and/or cross-dressing people.
That being said: a private company is permitted to perpetrate their own message, even one that is abhorrent to you. I am typing this as my work day has wound down at a company computer, and this company (which I guarantee you have heard of) -- also has the cockamamie "diversity is our strength" schtuff going on, complete with the dreaded diversity training laying a guilty trip on normal people because they think of themselves as normal. If this company chose to review every PC with keystroke loggers with the goal of firing everyone who didn't feel the way they do about "diversity," I would be toast.
However, I do take issue with your language when you say, "The employee who was fired, was not fired for his beliefs, he was fired for attempting to force his beliefs on others in contradiction to the company's objectives." He wasn't "forc[ing] his beliefs," he was expressing them.
The guy never had a chance.
Posters celebrating "diversity" which everyone knows means homosexuality is offensive not only to Christians but anyone who accepts moral absolutes.
No suprise from this lefty.
There are laws about not discriminating against people in the workplace because of their religion.
It looks to me that, headline asside, the court upheld a termination for insubordination. If Peterson had complied with the order and then filed a civil rights complaint and been fired, my sense of outrage would be greater. HP acts for economic reasons and apparently feels that it can keep more talented employees or sell more product or avoid regulatory hassel with its current policy. My guess is that avoiding regulatory hassel is the major reason as the gay activists are such a pain in the rear. :>
Actually they can, but I wonder if there is a cause of action for discrimination based on one's sexual preference - in this case the heterosexuals.
Yeah, the only place I care about diversity in on the resturant menu.
His quotes were put up in his cubicle, and the "diversity" poster was in his cubicle, which he had to see. Note that the company also refused to take down their "diversity" poster from his cubicle.
If Reinhardt has to tolerate HP's Diversity Dogma (read religion), than HP should tolerate Reinhardt's expression of Biblical Christianity.
HODAR: "...HP has no choice, they cannot favor one religion over another; thus no one gets to denounce anyone. Imagine, a work place where you can't post religious directives to kill Jews, or stone gays."
I can imagine it but it will never happen. The perpetuation of one religion over another in the workplace is intolerable, whether it be Biblical Christianity, Islam, or HP's brand of Religious Cultural Diversity.
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