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
Would this guy post verses condemning adulterers, those living together and unmarried etc. in order to offend them and oppose their right to work at HP?
I agree with the Bible that homosexuality is one sin among many. But I also believe in equal rights for homosexuals when it comes to housing, employment" onmouseover="window.status = 'goto: employment';return 1" onmouseout="window.status=''">employment etc. so believe there was nothing wrong with HP including gays in it's diversity policy.
Perhaps this junior Pharisee would like HP to purge it's ranks of ALL sinners?
This is the kind of "Christian" that gives all Christians a bad name. He should have been fired.
Because true religion requires faith.
Sin and evil do not.
Religion is defined thusly:
The noun "religion" has 2 senses in WordNet.
1. religion, faith, religious belief -- (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; "he lost his faith but not his morality")
2. religion, faith -- (institution to express belief in a divine power; "he was raised in the Baptist religion"; "a member of his own faith contradicted him")
Moral degradation and downfall require no faith.
None.
Ergo, no religion.
Thank you! This guy is the sort of intolerant zealot that gives Christians a bad name.
I agree with the Bible that homosexuality is sin, but this sort of religious judgementalism doesn't belong in the work place.
Homosexuals have just as much a right to a job as adulterers, unmarried people who live together, singles who run around bars picking up one night stands etc. ALL of which are condemned as sin.
The idea that a so-called "Christian" is going to post scripture deliberately intended to hurt others(as the guy admitted) in order to protest his company hiring those whose personal sins he disagrees with, is just obnoxious.
I don't think most people could possibly agree with you. You're redefining religion in a very unique way.
And it's terribly counter-productive, if you think about it. You want to give the very things you oppose at least as much constitutional protection under the First Amendment as you're claiming for your own religion.
I don't think so. There is nothing about this case that suggests HP now has a policy of firing people for their religion.
Or that sexual orientation was moved higher on the discrimination hierarchy than religion.
If a homosexual had posted opinions that were not only designed to offend Christians but intended to oppose HP's policy of employing Christians, then that would be the equivalent of what this guy did.
This guy clearly diserved to be fired.
This is exactly the crime, at least as the article reports it.
He didn't post them on the lunchroom bulletin board, he didn't picket in front of the building entrance, and he apparently was doing his work.
He posted his opinion on his own cubicle. We don't know if they were inside his cubicle or on the outside where visible to others.
If on the inside, then I would side with the employee.
If on the outside, he should have been told that that was open space that was not his personal work space, and that he should have taken his personal opinions inside his own space.
If it were my company, I would not want profane, racist, or dangerous messages in an open area. I would not have considered the bible verses to be any of those.
Could you explain your viewpoint?
With the notable exception of those people who due to their religious beliefs (what to mention common sense) are offended by being forced to kowtow at the altar of "diversity" i.e. homosexuality.
Just to make sure I understand you correctly, are you saying that if someone either quotes verses stating that homosexuality is a sin, or (just for the sake of clarity) states or considers same sex acts to be unhealthy or unnatural, is this what you mean by "spouting hate and prejudice"?
Please clarify.
Please read and take note of post 73 written by tubavil.
Straw man argument.
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