Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is
handling a case it hopes will encourage President Trump to move to protect
religious freedom.
A year and half ago, Donald Vander
Boon walked into the break room of his family-owned business (Michigan Beef
Company outside Grand Rapids, MI) and found material touting and supporting
unnatural marriage. The Christian
business owner countered that by placing in the break room a faith-based
article describing marriage as defined in the Bible: one man, one woman. Shortly thereafter, meat inspectors with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) paid Vander Boon a visit.
He explains what happened:
“...
They called me into my own office and took this article that I had printed and
put it on the table in my office and proceeded to ask me if I was going to leave
that article on the break room table – because if I was, they were going to
immediately remove the USDA inspectors from this facility.”
Without those inspectors, the doors of
his business would have to close – thereby denying him his livelihood and that
of his 45-employees.
According to ADF attorney Jeremy
Tedesco, the government employees cited a written USDA policy which says “federal
bureaucrats can determine what speech is disrespectful and insulting and
restrict that speech – and the First Amendment does not allow them to do that.”
It’s now been 18-months since Vander
Boon received the government’s ultimatum, during which time he has refrained
from returning the article to the break room – but also filed a complaint
regarding the denial of his rights with the USDA Food Safety and Inspection
Service. To date, the business owner has
heard nothing from the USDA.
Michael Farris, CEO of ADF, has sent a
letter to Trump explaining that Vander Boon’s situation could be corrected if
the president would sign a much talked about religious freedom executive order.
And that would do two things, says Farris:
(1) direct federal agencies to respect religion, and (2) reverse the USDA
directive that could drive a Christian business owner out of business.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor,
Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
The bible used to be considered the ultimate authority but thanks to SCOTUS rulings and complicit government schools the bible has been scoffed at, ridiculed and mocked. God has warned us of this and we should heed His warnings. As long as this man removes his article from the break room everyone is satisfied and he will not hear anymore of it. Since it is his break room he should also remove the gay literature and see if there is a "written policy" on that. I think the ADF should also demand to see this "written policy" from USDA and whatever committee in congress that has oversight of USDA should be demanding the reasoning for such a policy.
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