一项新的联邦诉讼指控农业部长Brooke rollins通过在工作邮件中频繁引用耶稣基督来改变联邦雇员的信仰。
全国联邦雇员联合会和七名美国雇员在加州提起诉讼，指控罗林斯违反了第一修正案的建立条款。
“罗林斯部长让机构雇员接受传教信息的做法和政策传达了一种期望，即美国农业部雇员认同部长的宗教信仰，即使这样做会背叛雇员自己的信仰，”诉讼称。“这正是《建国条款》所禁止的那种政府支持的宗教强制、宗教说教和教派偏好。”
诉状列出了罗林斯为纪念最近的节日而发送的一系列电子邮件，包括在她的感恩节电子邮件中提到“感谢慈爱的上帝”，在她的圣诞节电子邮件中写道“上帝给了我们可能的最伟大的礼物”，并在她的复活节电子邮件中描述耶稣复活的故事是“有史以来讲述的最伟大的故事”。起诉书称，罗林只承认基督教节日。
“我们国家的缔造者——从过去的宗教冲突的有害影响中吸取了教训——采纳了第一修正案的建立条款，以防止政府推广任何受青睐的宗教或将其偏好的宗教实践强加给公民，以保护所有人的宗教自由，”诉讼称。
虽然宗教表达受到法律保护，联邦雇员被允许从事私人宗教言论，但建立条款禁止政府建立官方的国家宗教，偏袒一种宗教而非另一种宗教，或偏袒宗教而非宗教。
提起诉讼的联邦雇员声称，罗林的讲话“灌输了美国农业部的雇员，并使他们感到被胁迫、不受欢迎、被排斥，并像该机构的局外人一样。”
一名员工在诉讼中声称，她被告知，如果她要求从电子邮件分发名单中删除，会给她“制造麻烦”，其他人则表示，如果他们抱怨这些邮件，他们担心会遭到报复。
另一名员工说，他“觉得秘书在向他传达这样的信息:他不受欢迎，而且会‘下地狱’，因为他不认同秘书的信念。”
作为对诉讼的回应，美国农业部发言人在一份声明中说，“虽然我们不对未决诉讼发表评论，但我们会在这个过程中为原告祈祷。”
Lawsuit accuses agriculture secretary of 'religious coercion' in staff emails
A new federal lawsuit accuses Secretary of AgricultureBrooke Rollinsof proselytizing federal employees by frequently invoking Jesus Christ in work emails.
The National Federation of Federal Employees and a group of sevenUSDAemployees filed the lawsuit in California, accusing Rollins of violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
"Secretary Rollins's practice and policy of subjecting agency employees to proselytizing messages conveys the expectation that USDA employees share in the Secretary's religious beliefs, even when doing so would betray an employee's own beliefs," the lawsuit said."It is exactly the sort of government-sponsored religious coercion, religious sermonizing, and denominational preference that the Establishment Clause prohibits."
The complaint listed a series of emails sent by Rollins to commemorate recent holidays, including crediting "gratitude towards a loving God" in her Thanksgiving email, writing that "God gave us the greatest gift possible" in her Christmas email, and describing the story of Jesus' resurrection as the "greatest story ever told" in her Easter email.Rollinsonly acknowledged Christian holidays, according to the complaint.
"Our nation's Founders -- having learned from the harmful effects of past religious conflicts -- adopted the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to safeguard against government promoting any favored religion or imposing its preferred religious practice on its citizens to protect religious freedom for all," the lawsuit said.
While religious expression is protected under law and federal employees are permitted to engage in private religious speech, the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from establishing an official state religion, favoring one religion over another, or favoring religion over non-religion.
The federal employees who brought the lawsuit alleged that Rollin's speech "indoctrinates USDA employees and has caused them to feel coerced, unwelcome, excluded, and like outsiders to the agency."
One employee claimed in the suit that she was told it would "create trouble" for her if she asked to be removed from the email distribution list, and others said they feared retaliation if they complained about the messages.
Another employee said he "feels that the Secretary is conveying to him that he is unwelcome and 'going to hell' because he does not share the Secretary's beliefs."
In response to the lawsuit, a USDA spokesperson said in a statement, "While we do not comment on pending litigation, we will keep the plaintiffs in our prayers during this process."
