Brooke Rollins accused of ‘sermonizing’ to USDA employees in new lawsuit
by Mary McCue Bell · The Washington TimesAgriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is the subject of a new lawsuit accusing her of evangelizing employees via mass emails promoting her Christian beliefs.
A group from the Agriculture Department and the National Federation of Federal Employees filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in California, arguing that Ms. Rollins violated the First Amendment by sharing her theology to “the captive audience of employees that report to her.”
“Secretary Rollins’ 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 reads.
The lawsuit subject’s email, sent on Easter Sunday, uses all-encompassing language, such as “we,” “our” and “us” to describe the religious holiday.
“Today we celebrate the greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith, and the abiding hope of all mankind,” the email from Ms. Rollins’ office reads.
The plaintiffs argue that this email violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause by promoting “government-sponsored religious coercion, religious sermonizing, and denominational preference.”
“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 reads.
The First Amendment strikes a balance between religious freedom and government neutrality, protecting private religious expression, while the Establishment Clause prevents the government from establishing a state religion or favoring any specific religion or nonreligion.
Advertisement Advertisement
Other examples of Christian messaging from the secretary’s office are included in the lawsuit, which notes that she has “sent no messages even acknowledging — let alone celebrating or sermonizing — other religions’ holidays.”
“That disparity is particularly stark in the case of the Easter Sermon, which Secretary Rollins sent during Passover, one of the most important Jewish holidays of the year,” it reads.
The lawsuit also alleges that “the denominational favoritism conveyed in Secretary Rollins’ communications indoctrinates USDA employees and has caused them to feel coerced, unwelcome, excluded, and like outsiders to the agency.”
One plaintiff, Ethan Roberts, an Agricultural Research Service employee, said Ms. Rollins’ emails make him “feel unwelcome in an agency I’ve dedicated 10 years to.”
He added in a statement, “We work for the federal government, not a church. I just want to go to work and make my country better — I shouldn’t have to suffer through sermons and other religious messages forced upon me by the head of a federal agency.”
Advertisement Advertisement
In the email, Ms. Rollins compares her “subordinates” to disciples with a higher calling, the lawsuit argues.
“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,” her note reads.
Another employee said that objecting to such emails or asking to be removed from the email distribution list would “create trouble” for her.
The lawsuit was filed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Democracy Forward and Bryan Schwartz Law.
Advertisement Advertisement
In response to the lawsuit, a USDA spokesperson said, “While we do not comment on pending litigation, we will keep the plaintiffs in our prayers during this process.”
Contact the author
Mary McCue Bell
Follow author updates Follow Click to follow. Manage followed authors