Religious Expression at Work: Persecution, or Pushy Employees?

Last updated on: January 14, 2010 at 6:53 pm by JBW

Religious Expression at Work: Persecution, or Pushy Employees? 2010-01-14T18:53:27-05:00 JBW

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A recent article at MSNBC.com by career-journalist Eve Tahmincioglu flatly asserts that “wearing your religion on your sleeve in a largely secular American workplace could hinder your career.” The author goes on to recount two cases of workers getting into trouble for “expressing their Christian beliefs.”

One young woman working at a ski resort in Vail was told to stop playing Christian music. She complained to HR and was fired in retaliation. Now she’s filed an EEOC suit. Another guy working at a Home Depot in Florida was fired because he wore a button that mentioned God on his orange apron.

Persecution? Religious harassment? Vicious attacks on Christians in the workplace?

It turns out that the guy at Home Depot was not supposed to be wearing any buttons on his apron other than the ones approved by the company. His special button said, “One nation under God Indivisible.” Harmless enough, right? Except that he was breaking the company’s dress code policy, one that was very important to its brand, culture and strategy.

Home Depot spokesman Ron DeFeo said, “Badges, buttons and pins are a big part of our culture. We give away thousands of them a year to our associates to recognize great customer service, store accomplishments, company milestones or to commemorate our community affairs initiatives. And we have a long-standing, well-communicated policy that states that only company-provided pins and badges can be worn by our associates.”

This young man’s actions may be interpreted as belligerent and antagonistic, rather than spiritually heroic. I probably would have fired him too. There are, after all, plenty of other ways to express your faith in God and country other than wearing a forbidden button on your apron.

And the girl at the ski resort? According to the article’s recounting of the EEOC settlement, a supervisor at Vail ski resort operations forbade the employee from discussing her Christian beliefs at work and from listening to Christian music during work hours, even though there were no such restrictions on other workers.

I don’t know, maybe this employee was just being a little pushy. Does it really matter so much if we play a Christian radio station on the slopes? If it’s so important, then put on your earphones, girl! I personally prefer many other types of music to Christian radio, but that’s just me. I’d be more worried about what my boss wants to hear, or what the skiers who paid so much to ski want to hear, than insisting everyone listen to what I liked. This could just as easy come off like an act of immaturity from a socially autistic worker rather than standing up for Christ.

Vail agreed to pay $80,000 to settle the case.

I don’t know about you, but if my company had policies for what I was supposed to wear, or how I was supposed to conduct myself in front of customers, I would generally want to follow those policies. Especially if there were good reasons for those policies in the first place, and they didn’t cause any particular breach of my beliefs.

Maybe these cases are less about persecution for expressing Christian beliefs, and more about transient and immature workers who are just being bad employees.

Either way, I’m sure they are keeping the lawyers very busy.

Photo by nAncY, used with permission.

Faith in the Workplace

Religious Harassment

Religious Persecution at Work

Previous Post

January 12, 2010

An Interview With "The Trusted Advisor" Author Charles H. Green

Next Post

January 19, 2010 My Other Job:Content Editor at The High Calling Blogs

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ambition Blogging Career Culture Executive Career Development Failure Faith in the Workplace Family Feeling Stupid Leadership Managing People Purpose Reviews Spirituality Uncategorized Work-Life Balance

Select a Month November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What New Covenant promise is found in Jeremiah?

Select your answer to see how you score.

God will write His law on their hearts God will raise a new king in Israel God will flood the earth God will destroy Egypt