Posted on 08/23/2004 10:44:30 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
An employee of the California Department of Social Services filed suit yesterday after state officials removed items from his cubicle they consider "political, religious or social" in nature.
Enoch Lawrence sued when his employer, the Roseville branch of the California Department of Social Services, took down from the walls of his cubicle a bumper sticker that reads "Marriage: One Man One Woman," a small sign that says "Jesus Spoken Here," various Bible verses and two published articles on current political issues.
"Nothing in this employee's workspace warrants this action," said Joshua Carden, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is assisting Lawrence with the suit. "The Constitution does not allow the department to silence his free expression rights just because they don't like the viewpoint he is expressing."
The federal civil-rights lawsuit contends the state agency unjustifiably restricted Lawrence's free speech and expression rights.
Lawrence, a disability evaluation analyst who is also a 21-year military veteran, says other employees were allowed to post personal material but he alone was targeted by government officials. He says a supervisor told him if he didn't allow the items to be removed, it would be considered insubordination.
According to a statement from Alliance Defense Fund, the department's policy states in part, "Each employee must exercise his or her own good judgement [sic] to avoid engaging in conduct that may be perceived by others as harassment and/or unprofessional, inappropriate behavior."
Said Carden: "The policy is unconstitutional. The department cannot censor Mr. Lawrence's speech because someone might 'perceive' it to be harassment. Furthermore, the policy provides virtually no guidelines for its enforcement. Officials have singled Mr. Lawrence out for discriminatory treatment by removing items from his cubicle that are clearly not disrupting the workplace.
"Mr. Lawrence's religious and politically conservative viewpoint does not make him a second-class member of the department. We intend to make sure that his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights are protected."
Didn't this guy realize that his first duty as a Christian is to go around apologizing for his beliefs and making sure everyone isn't offended? </sarcasm>
I hope he walked cubical to cubical taking picts of others personal stuff. He will win this case.
He produced a great deal, namely, he helped maintain our freedom. I'm not sure what his job description is on this present job, but if these agencies have to exist I'm just happy that a patriot and practicing Christian like himself is employed there.
The fact is that it should never be considered wrong to do what's right, no matter whom the 'right' actions may displease. When there is a government sanction for some insignificant little display of our Christian faith then it is rightly called religious oppression, which we willingly suffer for Christ. But let's at least call it what it is, religious oppression, and nevermind diluting our faith under the guise of this PC balderdash of 'offending' others of different faiths. Christians submit to Christ, not to His enemies.
All of this dissention arises directly from our 'multi cultural' and 'diverse' mentality. We are no longer 'ONE nation under God', but have become one piece of real estate under many gods. That's why these little battles constantly crop up all over our country and keep us divided, and make us weak.
We live in an age where truth and absolutes have been supplanted by 'moral relativism'. In other words the new teaching is that 'truth is in the eye of the individual'. For just as long as people take this demonic bait we'll always have these devisive and unnecessary dissentions among ourselves. No matter what you may say, or counter with, I will always be able to prove my point simply by pointing to our entire American history, which has traditionally allowed the expression of Chrisitianity in both the private and public spheres.
Never before, (until this generation), has the Christian religion and its expression been banned from public places. From banning school prayer to banning public displays of the Manger Scene; from outlawing Bibles in public schools to removing references to Christ or the Ten Commandments in public buildings, all of this is the new-age America, and it severs our moral and spiritual ties with our American ancestors. It has little or no connection whatsoever with our history or our heritage. In fact, Christian truths used to be TAUGHT in public schools, and printed in public school books. Bronze plaques relating to Christianity were fastened to the stone structures of our public buildings, City Halls, Court Houses and Libraries all accross America. States mandated that businesses close on Sundays in observance of the Sabbath.
I think your problem is that you've never been taught that right and wrong, good and evil do actually exist. You take a stand with one side or the other, there is no 'gray area', no middle ground. You are either with Christ or against Him, (Luke 10:16).
Noooo...my 'problem' is that I see a difference between law and faith, and you're supposed to obey the one if it doesn't contradict the other.
And you didn't answer the question about Koranic verses of pro-abortion propaganda.
Those who've studied law know, (or should know), that traditional Judeo-Christian/Western law was derived directly from the Ten Commandments. Laws against crimes such as murder, theft, adultery, etc. In countries which seek to suppress Christianity it follows that eventually anti-Christian laws will find their way into the mix. In fact, you cannot suppress the public expression of Christianity without creating anti-Christian laws.
"And you didn't answer the question about Koranic verses of pro-abortion propaganda."
To answer your question I will say that not long ago when folks emmigrated to the U.S. they learned to speak our language, live our lifestyle, and inculturated themselves into the American (western) way of life. Consequently, as they embraced their new way of life in America they always referred to their country of origin as "the old country". They feared pushing their old ways on us. Not so anymore. Today they bring their old ways with them and seek to perpetuate them and incorporate them into American society. They seek not to become American but to change America.
This is because the Muslims and others you speak about come here with different intentions than earlier immigrants. And our country's immigration laws no longer demand that immigrants have a job lined up, a home to live in, and a sponsor. We no longer absorb immigrants into our culture, but conversely we do whatever is necessary to change our culture to suit their needs. We give them welfare handouts, college assistance, driver's licenses, housing, whatever they ask for. We even change our city zoning laws so the Mosques can broadcast their "call to prayer" five times a day. We establish dual-language systems in places of business and the like. We dial Customer Service numbers and the recording asks us which language we would like to hear. On our subways we see signs in Chinese, Spanish, English and whatever.
So the long and short of my answer is this: When America was still America, nobody dared come here with their paganism and false gods and try to shove them down our throats. As for people who would want to display pro-abortion signs at work, I will also say that until this past generation very few people would be bold enough, or sick enough, to try to foster this abomination of infanticide at the workplace. We as a nation have shamefully turned our backs on morality, faith and decency; and as a result we've allowed every kind of evil to just waltz into our society, set up shop and spit in our faces. To put it bluntly, we've lost our faith and our spine. Too few resisted these divisive changes, and now we reap what we've sowed.
I can think of some Jews who would be very surprised to see themselves described thusly.
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