Young Catholic immigrant files charge alleging religious discrimination

Houston health care company fires Alexia Palma for being unwilling to promote contraception 

Houston, Texas – Today, on behalf of its client, Alexia Palma, First Liberty Institute filed a legal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charging Palma’s former employers, Legacy Community Health (LCH), with religious discrimination. In the complaint, Palma, a young Catholic woman, says that her employers fired her after she requested a simple religious accommodation from a task that constituted less than 2% of her job.   

Read the EEOC Charge 

Palma worked as a health educator at LCH, a clinic for low-income patients in Houston’s inner city. 

“I emigrated from Guatemala to America as a child,” Palma said. “Finding this job, where I could serve those in need in my community, was my American dream come true.”  

As a health educator, Palma taught many classes, but only one conflicted with her religious beliefs: the class on contraception. Because of her Catholic faith, Palma requested a simple religious accommodation – to be able to show a video on birth control instead of personally advocating for contraception. Her supervisors agreed, and the arrangement worked well for a year and a half.  

In June 2016, after Palma was placed under new management, she was called into a meeting with company executives. Ms. Amy Leonard, the Vice President of the Public Health Department at LCH, gave Palma an ultimatum – “put aside” her religious beliefs or be terminated.  

Palma reminded Ms. Leonard that teaching the birth control class was less than 2% of her job. She requested an accommodation to allow her to continue showing the video or to allow another employee, who had volunteered to teach the class, to substitute teach the class for her. LCH refused her accommodation request and she was terminated. 

“I really loved my job and my patients, but I couldn’t do what the company was asking,” Palma says. “Through my difficult childhood of abuse and abandonment, God has always been faithful to me, so I must be faithful to him. My faith comes first.” 

“The company gave Alexia an ultimatum – violate your faith or be fired,” Jeremy Dys, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute, the religious freedom law firm representing Palma, says. “That’s a violation of federal law and it is blatant religious discrimination.”  

On December 21, First Liberty Institute filed an official charge with the EEOC on behalf of Palma, alleging that LCH engaged in religious discrimination. 

“No one should be fired over their religious beliefs,” Dys says.  

Read more and view legal documents at FirstLiberty.org/Palma  

About First Liberty Institute 

First Liberty Institute is the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans. 

Atheist group demand kids stop packing Christmas boxes for needy kids

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an almost unbelievable act of Christmas time stinginess, this holiday season the American Humanist Association went to court in Colorado in an effort to stop public school children from volunteering for a program that sends care packages to children in need. AHA wants to stop the distribution of these shoe boxes packed with items such as toothbrushes because the boxes also contain religious messages about the meaning of Christmas.  The non-profit that coordinates the volunteers and sends the boxes, Operation Christmas Child, has been offending the AHA for years.  The perpetrator of good deeds asks volunteers to pack shoe boxes for children of various age groups with items including stuffed animals, small toys, school supplies, and basic hygiene items like toothpaste and soap. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has provided more than 100 million shoebox gifts to children in more than 130 countries.  “These boxes are filled with school supplies and basic hygiene items,” said Kristina Arriaga, executive director of Becket Law. “It's heartbreaking enough that there are children who will receive nothing but a toothbrush for Christmas. The American Humanist Association would deny them even that?” AHA has been on a crusade to stop public school children from volunteering for such programs since 2013, when they sent “letters of warning” to school districts in Colorado and South Carolina where Operation Christmas Child was invited into public schools. Every December Becket gives a lump of coal to a person or organization attempting to take religion out the holidays, fittingly titled “The Ebenezer Award.” Congratulations to this year’s Ebenezer: The American Humanist Association!   “We're talking about school children putting together care packages for other children who are in need. If we can't support that at Christmas, we are truly living in Scrooge's world,” said Arriaga.  Perhaps the AHA could give it a rest during the season of giving. For our part, Becket wishes a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year to all! In the words of Tiny Tim: “God bless us, every one!”  Becket Law is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions and has a 100% win-rate before the United States Supreme Court.  For over 20 years, it has successfully defended clients of all faiths.

What in the world is happening on campuses today?

Nico Perrino
FIRE director of communications

You’d have to be living in a cave not to know that there are numerous problems on college – and high school – campuses today. “Free speech zones,” “save places,” speakers vetted for political beliefs, and the list goes on.

Joining us Tuesday to uncover the problem will be Nico Perrino, communications director for FIRE, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. FIRE’s mission is to defend and sustain individual rights in America’s colleges and universities such as freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience. Nico, originally from the Chicago area is a graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington with a B.A. in journalism and history.

In addition to Nico, Deacon Mike Manno and Gina Noll will have the usual array of news items of interest to people of faith.

Join Deacon Mike and Gina at 9 a.m. on Iowa Catholic Radio 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com. The program is rebroadcast at 9 p.m. unless preempted by Dowling Catholic basketball. The program is also webcast on the Iowa Catholic Radio Channel on YouTube and podcasts of older programs can be found on the FOT page on the station’s website here. Don’t for get to “like” us on Facebook to get our news feed.

Faith On Trial is sponsored by our loyal sponsors and underwriters: Attorney Rick McConville, Coppola, McConville, Coppola, Carroll, Hockenberg & Scalise PC 2100 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines, 515-453-1055; Confluence Brewing Company – off the Bike Trail just south of Grey’s Lake, 1235 Thomas Beck Road where there is live entertainment in the tap room every Thursday; and Robert Cota, Farm Bureau Financial Services, 200 West 2^nd Ave., Indianola, Iowa 50125, 515-961-4555 or 515-205-5642.

Thomas More Society to display Nativity Scene in Iowa State Capitol for the first time

On Monday, December 12, 2016, residents will gather for the first annual Nativity Lighting Ceremony on the first-floor rotunda of the Iowa Capitol to begin the celebration of the Christmas season. The celebration, which is privately sponsored, will take place at 10:00am (CST). Iowa's Governor Terry Branstad will welcome those gathered, and Bishop Richard Pates of the capitol's Des Moines Diocese will address the gathering.

Organizers worked alongside the American Nativity Scene Committee and Thomas More Society, a Chicago based public interest law firm, to successfully secure what they hope becomes a Capitol holiday tradition. 

 “The nativity scene in the Rotunda represents constitutionally-protected free speech and expression of religious faith by private citizens in a traditional public forum,” said Tom Brejcha, Thomas More Society President and Chief Counsel. “The Government is neither censor nor endorser of such religious speech. In the Capitol Rotunda, where political rallies are routinely held during Government sessions, the Government is merely the gatekeeper upholding free speech."

Thomas More Society, which offers pro bono legal services to citizens and groups who are interested in placing a Nativity Scene in any traditional or designated public forum, has collaborated with the American Nativity Scene to place Nativity Scenes in State Capitols and numerous  additional public places across the country. Together, Thomas More Society and the American Nativity Scene Committee will continue to strive to ensure that public forums continue to welcome private religious speech equally as other types of free speech.

About the Thomas More Society:

Thomas More Society is a not-for-profit, national public interest law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. Based in Chicago and Omaha, the Thomas More Society defends and fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

About the American Nativity Scene Committee:

The American Nativity Scene Committee is dedicated to the display of Nativity Scenes in every State Capitol throughout the United States during the Christmas season. The Committee ships nativity scenes (donated by an anonymous benefactor) to private citizens throughout the U.S. who wish to give witness to the true meaning of Christmas by setting up a nativity scene in the public square.

Dutch court finds political candidate guilty of “hate speech” for proposing change in immigration policy

A special report from our friends at American Freedom Law Center: 

Dutch court found leading political candidate Girt Wilders guilty of hate speech. Read the article and contemplate the words of the presiding judge.

Before declaring Wilders guilty, [presiding Judge] Steenhuis stressed that freedom of speech was not on trial as Wilders had claimed during the case.

Freedom of speech is one of the foundations of our democratic society," the judge said.  But he added: "Freedom of speech can be limited, for example to protect the rights and freedoms of others, and that is what this case is about." 

Of what exactly was Mr. Wilders found guilty? He proposed during a campaign speech for the office of prime minister that he would change the legal policy toward immigration, especially as to Moroccans who have flooded into the country and created a criminal underclass. 

Let’s repeat that: Wilders spoke about a legal policy change to address what he considered a social harm. He did not threaten anyone or any class of people with criminal behavior (i.e., this was not a criminal threat); he did not incite violence; and he was not accused of defaming anyone. In other words, Mr. Wilders was convicted for his pure political speech. 

In the Netherlands, political speech is now hate speech if it upsets Muslims or those among the Progressive establishment who seek to destroy Dutch national existence via open borders. 

Think of the Netherlands as the Advanced Case of the Western Affliction. HRC, and the rather imposing cast of like-minded Progressives with whom she travels, have long adopted the Dutch court’s view of our fundamental liberty to speak freely on political matters. That is, political speech is only free speech if it fits conventional PC norms. 

President-elect Donald Trump appears to have stalled this Western Affliction as it relates to this fundamental liberty to speak truth to power, although at times he has attacked this liberty when it is in the hands of his critics. 

As with most of Mr. Trump’s potential, we’ll have to see what fructifies and what doesn't. 

But, one thing is for certain: the Western Affliction is here. The only question is whether we can muster our internal anti-bodies to resist it. 

When you ponder that last query, consider the results of the last popular vote for president. Indeed, while a Trump presidency provides a good measure of hope, a majority of Americans still voted for HRC. 

Indiana principal’s tirade tramples First Amendment Rights

Thomas More Society Demands Apology from Fort Wayne School Board

for Abuse of Pro-Life Advocates

(December 7, 2016 – Fort Wayne, IN) The Fort Wayne Public School Board has received a letter from the Thomas More Society demanding an apology for the alleged disturbing misconduct of South Side High School Principal Carlton Mable. On November 18, 2016, Mable, in front of students, tried to block pro-life advocates from displaying abortion-condemning signs on the public right of way and prohibit them from providing students with pro-life information, even going so far as to physically wrest a sign away from one pro-life advocate before throwing it to the ground. Mable’s tirade, caught on video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG_AsVZBFZk#action=share] and eventually halted by police, has resulted in the demand issued by attorney Thomas M. Dixon, Thomas More Society Special Counsel and President at Dixon, Wright & Associates, P.C. Acting on behalf of Created Equal and individuals whose First Amendment rights were trampled by Mable, the Thomas More Society has also asked the City of Fort Wayne for reassurances of the continued protection of the pro-life advocates’ constitutionally guaranteed rights.

The letter details how Mable denied Created Equal and its members the right to peaceably assemble and speak on a public sidewalk adjacent to South Side High School by:

• aggressively approaching them
• verbally accosting them
• making threats towards them when he saw that he was being videotaped
• mischaracterizing a public sidewalk as being school property
• asserting a false right to “protect” students from being exposed to speech he deemed inappropriate
• forcefully taking property from them and throwing it into the street
• flouting and squelching their First Amendment rights in the presence of many students

The Thomas More Society letter states, “Principal Mable trampled on rights that are enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Articles 2, 3, 4 and 9 of the Indiana Constitution, and are fiercely protected by the United States Supreme Court. Our clients insist on the respect to which they are entitled. We seek written apologies from Principal Mable and School Board Superintendent Dr. Wendy Robinson, assurances from the School Board that this will not happen again, and guarantees from the City of Fort Wayne that it will continue to uphold free speech rights.”

Mark Harrington, National Director of Created Equal, remarked, “Pro-life activists have been experiencing an increase in vandalism and violence at high school campuses across the country. Unfortunately, to some school officials, public sidewalks are considered their own private property in which they feel they can wield control and censor free speech. Creating unconstitutional ‘safe zones’ in the public square where students can be shielded from unpleasant subjects does a disservice to our youth, and does not prepare these young adults for the real world.”

Read the December 2, 2016, letter sent by Attorney Thomas M. Dixon to Fort Wayne School Board here [https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Created-Equal-Demand-Ft-Wayne-Ltr.pdf].

View the video documenting South Side High School Principal Carlton Mable’s actions against peaceful pro-life advocates on the public right of way here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG_AsVZBFZk#action=share]

 

About the Thomas More Society

The Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago and Omaha, the Thomas More Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. For more information, visit www.thomasmoresociety.org

Jewish woman defends Passover in court

Court hears case for employees’ rights to observe religious holidays 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – An Orthodox Jewish woman who was fired by the government agency that operates Dulles and Reagan National Airports because she observed Passover took her case to court today. 

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia will decide the case of Susan Abeles, who lost her job of 26 years for observing Passover, an important religious holiday in Judaism. An employee of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), the government agency that operates Reagan National and Dulles Airports, Ms. Abeles had observed Passover every year without incident until 2013, when she was punished and forced to retire despite following leave protocol.  

“My Jewish faith is an integral part of who I am and that includes observing Passover,” said Susan Abeles. “I worked at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority for twenty-six years and provided to various supervisors the same advance notice of all Jewish holidays without incident. It is saddening that despite following the same protocol I had each year, I was put on AWOL and suspended for five days which drove me to retire early for simply practicing my faith.” 

Passover is observed for eight days, and Jewish religious law prohibits work during the first two and last two days. Millions of Orthodox Jews like Ms. Abeles have observed Passover for thousands of years, yet the MWAA’s policy is to ignore this important religious holiday. Of course, like all government agencies, MWAA treats Christmas as a holiday for all workers. In 2015, Ms. Abeles sued the MWAA, which now claims to be exempt from both federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and Virginia religious freedom laws, giving it free rein to avoid all anti-discrimination laws.  

Becket and the American Jewish Committee argue that MWAA is not above the law, stating in their brief, “Can a governmental entity wielding the full force of law, armed with police and eminent domain powers and tasked with the oversight of two of the busiest airports in the country, properly declare itself exempt from the reach of both state and federal anti-discrimination law? …the law says no.” 

“It takes some chutzpah for the government to punish a Jewish woman for celebrating Passover,” said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “It takes even more chutzpah to say that they are the only government agency in DC exempt from our civil rights laws.”  

Becket and the American Jewish Committee, a leading Jewish advocacy group, filed a friend-of-the-court brief earlier this year defending Ms. Abeles and her right to practice her faith as protected by RFRA. After a Virginia federal district court ruled against Ms. Abeles, she appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard her case today. Ms. Abeles is represented by Nathan Lewin of Lewin & Lewin. 

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions and has a 100% win-rate before the United States Supreme Court. For over 20 years, it has successfully defended clients of all faiths,  (read more). 

Right to life activities and updates: This week on FOT

This week we’ll be joined by Maggie DeWitte, executive director of Iowans for Life to update

Maggie DeWitte
Executive Director, Iowans for Life

us on the latest in the pro-life community. We’ll have a special focus on activities surrounding Thursday’s celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Deacon Mike Manno and Gina Noll will also bring you up-to-date on news of interest to people of faith. So join us Tuesday at 9 a.m. on Iowa Catholic Radio 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and streaming live on IowaCatholicRadio.com. Check out our YouTube channel to see the program as it is being webcast. Podcasts of earlier programs can be found here.

Faith On Trial is brought to you by our loyal sponsors and underwriters: Attorney Rick McConville, Coppola, McConville, Coppola, Carroll, Hockenberg & Scalise PC 2100 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines, 515-453-1055; Confluence Brewing Company – off the Bike Trail just south of Grey’s Lake, 1235 Thomas Beck Road where there is live entertainment in the tap room every Thursday; and Robert Cota, Farm Bureau Financial Services, 200 West 2^nd Ave., Indianola, Iowa 50125, 515-961-4555 or 515-205-5642.

Federal court rules to keep national motto “In God we trust” on U.S. currency

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, December 1, 2016 – Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio dismissed a lawsuit against the federal government demanding the removal of the National Motto, “In God We Trust,” from U.S. currency. In the opinion, the court dismissed the Plaintiffs’ claims that the use of the National Motto on currency violates their rights to free exercise, free speech, and equal protection. Read the opinion. 

After a group of atheists, humanists and others filed a lawsuit against the federal government demanding the removal of the phrase “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency, First Liberty Institute filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of The American Legion (the largest veterans service organization in America with over 2 million members) defending the National Motto in the case of New Doe Child #1 v. The Congress of the United States. Read the brief. 

Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of First Liberty Institute, says, “We’re grateful that the court upheld the federal government’s ability to display our National Motto on our currency. Federal courts have repeatedly upheld the National Motto as constitutional. ‘In God We Trust’ is deeply embedded in our nation’s history and is a symbol of patriotism.”

Justin Butterfield, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute, says, “The National Motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ appears on government buildings across the country, including the House and Senate Chambers. Banning the National Motto from our currency would have been egregious, and the court ruled correctly in dismissing the lawsuit.”

In the brief, the attorneys said, “The American Legion believes that our National Motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ itself originating in Francis Scott Key’s poem that would become ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and honoring the courage and valor of our service members who defended Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, is a fitting and solemnizing motto for this nation. The American Legion has, therefore—as recognized even in Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint—regularly advocated for the recognition and honor of our National Motto as well as its history and heritage.”

About First Liberty Institute

First Liberty Institute is the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.