NFFE’S CRUSADE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
NFFE could have just let it slide as yet another act of insanity by a Trump appointee in an ever-growing line of them. But we all owe the union thanks for taking on this fight against right-wing Christian zealots using government time, facilities and money to proselytize. The best place to begin this story is with a message the Secretary of Agriculture sent out a few ago that sparked a lawsuit from NFFE.
Team USDA,
Happy Easter – He is Risen indeed!
Today we celebrate the greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith, and the abiding hope of all mankind.
From the foot of the Cross on Good Friday to the stone rolled away from the now empty tomb, sin has been destroyed. Jesus has been raised from the dead. And God has granted each of us victory and new life. And where there is life — risen life—there is hope.
No matter the very real trials and hardships we face, fear and sin and death do not get the last word. Because on Easter morning, “Hell took a body, and discovered God. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.” Now that is reason to rejoice!
And so like the very first disciples to encounter our risen Lord in the Upper Room almost two thousand years ago, this Easter let us too be alive with hope, full of Paschal joy, and confident in the mission each of us has been called for.
Please know how amazed and grateful I am for the hard work each of you do to support our shared mission here at USDA. I hope you and your loved ones have a truly blessed and happy Easter. May God continue to bless you, your families, and our exceptional country, One Nation, Under God.
Sincerely, Brooke L. Rollins, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
In other words, all you Jews, Islamists, Hindi, Buddhist, and particularly you Atheists, get with the program. It may be a subtle message, but it is a clear, i.e., on “Team USDA…we celebrate the foundation of OUR faith.” Christianity and Christians occupy a higher step on the prestige ladder in Agriculture than the rest of you. Don’t hold your breath waiting for a similar message from the boss on Yom Kippur, the Day of Arafah, Diwali, Visak, or Darwin Day. And it will not hurt if you show up at promotion interviews wearing a little gold cross necklace, or sport an ash smug on your forehead on Ash Wednesday, or make the sign of the cross at the beginning of every staff meeting.
As NFFE correctly notes, under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 1962; County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 492 U.S. 573, 1989), official communications from a federal agency cannot promote or endorse a particular religion. In a just world, the Secretary will be required to issue an apology, reimburse the Department for all the time lost by employees stopping work to read her message, and then refer herself to the Special Counsel for discipline. Perhaps someone will even find a way to get compensatory financial damages for all Ag employees base don the Sefcretary’s discimination.
We all owe NFFE for not letting this slip by.
