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Adventist, Fired for Sabbath Observance, Seeks Reinstatement and Damages
ANN (Adventist News Network ^ | October 19, 2004 | ANN staff

Posted on 10/21/2004 12:48:09 PM PDT by Tamar1973

Austin, Texas, United States .... [ANN Staff]

An employee fired from Dynacon, Inc. of Bryan, Texas, for religious beliefs protected under federal law is seeking reinstatement to his job. Hector Rivera wants his welder's job restored, along with back pay and punitive damages, according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Representing Rivera is attorney Malcolm Greenstein of Austin.

Rivera joined Dynacon in 1988 as a welder and became a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in May 2002. He asked for, and received, accommodation for his belief that he should not work on Saturday, the biblical Sabbath. A new supervisor ended that practice in August 2002; when Rivera refused to work on a Saturday, he was terminated.

"This is only one of many examples of illegal discrimination against Sabbath-keepers," said Mitchell Tyner, an associate counsel for the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters. "Every year more than 1,000 Adventists [in the United States] are either denied employment or lose their jobs over their religious beliefs, which are guaranteed protection under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act."

According to Tyner, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports an 80 percent increase in religious discrimination cases during the past five years. Seventh-day Adventists, observant Jews, and members of other faith communities are among those who regularly suffer discrimination for requesting accommodation.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: discrimination; minority; religiousliberty; seventhdayadventist; texas
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To: Tamar1973

> This is the only place G-d ever told His people to clear out the pagans from the land.

Hmm. And that's different from the Islamic wars of conquest... how?

> G-d gave the Amorites and the other peoples living in the land over 400 years to repent of their iniquity but they refused to do so therefore G-d gave the Israelites their land and he gave them the right to drive them out by any means neccessary.

What a marvelous excuse. Next time I need to find a reason to exterminate some group of people whose land I desire, I think I'll use that one.

> The entire tradition of celebrating birtdays comes from the pagan belief in astrology.

Ands the entirety of *astronomy* comes fromt he pagan belief in astrology. So I dearly hope you don't believe that heretical crap about the Earth goign aroudn the Sun, or the stars being anything but points of light in the sky...

> Anything which doesn't come from G-d comes from somewhere else.

Indeed, the Internet is clearly trhe tool of Satan.


101 posted on 10/25/2004 7:23:55 AM PDT by orionblamblam
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To: orionblamblam

All religion including christianity, judaism, islam, you name it, derives from paganism in one form or another. Why we deny this heritage is unfortunate. Everyone wants their religion to be the true faith. They can't all be right, but they surely could all be wrong. All the major religions are evolved forms of sun worship. The quicker we acknowledge this the better the world will be.


102 posted on 10/25/2004 7:40:06 AM PDT by zeebob
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To: Tamar1973
It's been my experience that most Christians don't care one bit of they have to work on Sunday as long as they can at least go to church in the morning.

Or if not to church, at least go fishing.

103 posted on 10/25/2004 8:01:16 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: zeebob

> Why we deny this heritage is unfortunate.

But it is understandable. Many religions, in particualr the monotheisms, hold the belief that theirs is The One True Faith. By definition, this means that all the others are Wrong Faiths. And when it can be shown that aspects of The One True Faith are in fact cribbed from Wrong Faiths, people get twitchy.

Thus mentioning that the important aspects of, say, the Christ story sure read like someone plagiarizing the story of Mithras (born of a God father and a virgin mother, able to raise the dead, executed and then brought back to life 3 days later, carried into heaven, brings the hope of peace and blah, blah, blah...), this tends to make certain people annoyed.

> The quicker we acknowledge this the better the world will be.

I would not suggest holding your breath. Monotheisms just don't play well with others.


104 posted on 10/25/2004 8:37:15 AM PDT by orionblamblam
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To: DJ MacWoW
I personally, have a problem with a "Christian" religion that follows Judaic law.

Ya like everyone knows Yeshua (Jesus) was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, died a Jew but was resurrected a catholic!

105 posted on 10/25/2004 8:43:19 AM PDT by patriot_wes
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To: patriot_wes
died a Jew but was resurrected a catholic!

Your statement might have some merit if I was Catholic. Your guess and jab were WAY off the mark..

106 posted on 10/25/2004 9:45:17 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (Save a Democrat! Vote Republican!)
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To: DouglasKC

Excellent reply. My thoughts exactly. Remember the Sabbath.

<><


107 posted on 10/25/2004 10:44:47 AM PDT by viaveritasvita (If MSM can't or won't get out the real news, we'll have to get it out ourselves. ~ Chuck Colson)
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To: Tamar1973
"Representing Rivera is attorney Malcolm Greenstein of Austin."
108 posted on 10/25/2004 10:49:46 AM PDT by WildTurkey
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To: DouglasKC
Excellent reply and exactly right.

I'm a Sabbath-keeping Christian myself. I don't celebrate christmas or easter because they aren't in the bible. Their roots are pagan and their celebration predates Christ's time on earth by quite a while (an internet search will show this).
109 posted on 10/25/2004 11:05:35 AM PDT by sddINRep (Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy - Ex. 20:8)
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To: sddINRep
I'm a Sabbath-keeping Christian myself. I don't celebrate christmas or easter because they aren't in the bible. Their roots are pagan and their celebration predates Christ's time on earth by quite a while (an internet search will show this).

I think this movement is growing. It is the real "fundementalism" of Christianity. Fundementally (biblically) Christians celebrated the sabbath and God's holy days, such as the feast of tabernacles and the days of unleavened bread.

110 posted on 10/25/2004 11:42:27 AM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: DouglasKC

Yep. We just finished keeping the Feast of Tabernacles 2 weeks ago and we'll keep Passover and Unleavened Bread next spring.

Most people in mainstream Christianity don't see the need to keep the Law because they just read Galatians and think it was done away with - no matter what it says in Romans.

John, the brother of Jesus, was inspired to write in Rev. 22: 18 & 19 a warning about adding to or taking away from the word of God. Mainstream Christianity has been doing that since the beginning - I try not to.


111 posted on 10/28/2004 10:25:50 AM PDT by sddINRep (Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy - Ex. 20:8)
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To: Tamar1973

This is what will happen if the looney left gains back power on Capital Hill. People like Hillary and the liberals will take "one nation under God" out of the pledge of allegiance, as well as, other traditional religious rights.

~Scott~


112 posted on 09/24/2005 5:27:14 PM PDT by jscottdavis_for_48th_district (J. Scott Davis http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jscottdavisfanclub ... Hollywood's Next Action Hero)
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