Just a quick post today, because I want people to spread the word about this.

This weekend I had an amazing time at Paganicon getting together with like-minded people in a safe and educational environment. At times like these I really feel like being Pagan is no big deal; it’s just another spiritual path that has all sorts of adherents, and we can all get together and talk about important things. But this morning back in the office, reality rudely awakened me once more to the fact that some people just don’t get it. That’s fine, but it’s a problem when those people then harass you and cause you to lose your job.

This article gives a compelling picture of  a group of people highly uncomfortable with having to work side by side with a Wiccan. We see the kinds of sneers and slights she had to endure; her complaints about harassment went unheeded, while a woman afraid that she’d be the target of a hex was escorted to her car for protection. It seems clear from the emails referenced in this article that this woman’s coworkers and supervisors at TSA were all working in unison to get her fired from her job.

I really wouldn’t expect more from an agency like TSA, because even though they’re a government agency and should be following the letter of the law… well, they don’t seem to have any regard for the 4th amendment of the Constitution, so why should they care about the 1st? However I am disappointed with the judge’s ruling in this case and truly hope that the woman is able to hire a lawyer for her appeal, because it’s possible she was just in too deep and not able to present a conclusive case to the judge that proves without a shadow of a doubt that she was fired because of her religious beliefs. Unfortunately, “as a Wiccan, I don’t believe in coincidences” just isn’t going to cut it in a court of law.

Patrick McCollum, Wiccan chaplain and activist

His latest battle has been an ongoing fight of several years against California’s “five faiths policy,” which restricts paid prison chaplains to being only of the Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Native American faiths. He rightfully argued that this constitutes religious discrimination in hiring practices, not to mention the fact that incarcerated members of other faiths would be well-served by having more minority faith chaplains. The response, up to now, has been to argue on the technicality that McCollum has no legal standing, as he’s not a prisoner, nor is he a taxpayer trying to curb government spending (he’s suggesting government money instead could be spent more fairly). But now the conversation has taken a turn for the worse. Much worse. Patrick’s latest statement reads:

In one of their first arguments to the court, the defendants said that certain “traditional” faiths are first tier faiths and that those faiths were meant to have equal rights and protections under the United States Constitution, but that all of the other faiths, for example, Hindus, Pagans, Buddhists, Sikhs, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jains, are second tier faiths deserving of lesser rights, and therefore are not meant to have the same equal rights and protections under the United States Constitution as the first tier faiths.

Now, in an amicus brief filed in the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in support of the CDCR and the other defendants, an organization called WallBuilders,Inc, which is represented by the National Legal Foundation, has argued that Christianity is the only religion that should be protected under the Constitution or at the very most other monotheistic religions might also be included.  They also argue that the term religion only applies to Christianity or monotheistic faiths, and that anyone else, including the Pagans, are not really a religion for the purpose of Constitutional protections.

Does that send shivers down your spine? Creep you out entirely? It should. Wicca has been a protected religion in the eyes of the Federal Court since 1986, and now these cretins want to say “not really.”

The WallBuilder’s brief claims that the definition of “religion” when used by the founding fathers was synonymous with “Christianity” or “monotheism” because they spoke of “the Creator” as a singular noun, and therefore McCollum can’t invoke the protection of the founding fathers. Inexplicably, they also argue at the same time that since the definition of religion has changed since then (yes, the definition has changed, but if anything I would argue that it’s broader now than it was back then), whatever definition of “religion” you apply, Paganism and witchcraft don’t fall under it. Incredible.

If you’re troubled or outraged by this assault on the beliefs of millions of non-monotheists living in America, here’s what you can do, in Patrick’s words again:

We all need to write to Jerry Brown, the California Attorney General, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Mathew L. Cate, the Secretary of the CDCR and let them all know our outrage.  And if you are a Pagan or Heathen, then we must also demand equal treatment, equal accommodations, equal access to our religious items for institutionalized persons, including prison inmates, and equal access to paid Pagan chaplains.

For the full enchilada, complete with links to Patrick’s full statement, and WallBuilder’s full amicus brief, please see the post on the Wild Hunt blog: Is the First Amendment for Monotheists Only?. Jason has summed up all the key points eloquently and has links to his previous posts about McCollum’s ongoing legal battle. Kids, it looks like now is the time to jump in. We’ve been letting Patrick fight for us, now is the time to make our voices heard on his behalf before this thing goes too far.

Gina Uberti says she was fired last November after speaking with her manager about a vacation she took. Uberti says that for the past six years, she has taken a week off every year to celebrate Samhain in Salem, Massachusetts, and her absence in 2008 was both planned and approved by a previous manager nearly a year in advance. From what I can gather, the new manager never told her she could not take the time off, but rebuked her for taking the time off once she was back, on November 4. Apparently the week she had taken off work was the week of the rolling-out of an important company campaign, and the manager was frustrated that Uberti could not be reached on the phone during this time. She wanted to know what was so important that Uberti had put the planned time off higher on her list of priorities than this company project. Uberti told her that it was a religious observance, which caused the manager to ask what holiday she could be celebrating at the end of October/beginning of November. Uberti told the manager she was Wiccan and explained the significance of Samhain as the new year for Wiccans. From there, things went further south, with the manager allegedly calling her religious beliefs “ridiculous” and allegedly calling Uberti herself a “devil-worshipper” and threatening her employment. Uberti was fired two weeks after that conversation.

Now, so far this whole interaction, as related by Uberti, raises many questions, which I’ll take one at a time. Are employees of major corporations so beholden to their jobs and co-workers that they must even sacrifice their personal vacations for them, vacations that were planned far in advance? (This question extends to any vacations, not just religious ones, as this was the manager’s complaint before she knew about the religious aspect of the trip.) Aren’t people allowed to simply unplug anymore without fear of losing their jobs? Can a regional manager really go so batty because one of her sales managers is unreachable for one measly week? And yes, one can argue that this was an important week for the company and the “good employee” would have changed her personal plans, but in some high-responsibility jobs there is never a good time for you to be absent. People today wishing to remain sane and balanced must carve out time for themselves. At times we need to put our foot down, say “enough,” and take some personal time. It’s a shame that this manager pressed the employee to explain herself simply for taking the paid vacation that was her due for working all year.

Still, if this really was such a huge project, it’s possible that Uberti failed to meet her employment objectives or job responsibilities by not working or being in contact during that important week. If that were the case though, I think the manager should have told her ahead of time that she would be fired for taking the time off because the company needed her to work at that time, and leave it at that. Just like folks who are required to work on Thanksgiving or Christmas, who would rather be at home with their families but who need the job so much they do it anyway, it could have been Uberti’s sole decision. And it wouldn’t have led to prying questions about what she was doing with her time off.

The next question, which some people have been discussing over at the Wild Hunt, is whether Uberti should have even told the manager the reason for her absence or vacation. In an ideal utopia, of course, the manager has no right to know what the employee is doing with her approved time off, but unfortunately that’s not the way large businesses work. The manager obviously felt she had a right to know why the employee did not reschedule the vacation in light of the project she was needed for, and demanded answers. So was Uberti right to bring religion into it?

Well, why not? Just because some people are prejudiced does not mean that Pagans and Wiccans need to live like lepers or like gays in the military – “don’t ask, don’t tell.” It doesn’t sound like Uberti was proselytizing or being outspoken about her religious beliefs, just answering a very specific question: why this specific week? She had a valid answer and in a truly non-judgmental world that adheres to non-discrimination against “race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status” as Bath & Body Works aspires to do, it wouldn’t have mattered. But for this particular manager, it apparently mattered – a great deal. Unfortunately companies can write lovely non-discrimination policies, but it is often left to small-minded people to enforce them, or not. Which is why the company’s response to this should be interesting.

Keep in mind that Uberti had worked for Bath & Body works for eight years, had been promoted, had gotten good reviews – it sounds like she was dedicated to this company, in it for the long haul. Keep in mind as well that this problem only occurred when a new manager stepped in; her previous managers had allowed the trips for six years running with no written complaints. It does seem like a case of religious discrimination, and if the courts agree with Uberti, I hope that she will receive full justice and an apology from her former employer. We’ll just have to follow this case, wait and see. After all, we still only know one side of the story.

But let’s turn the questions back to you. First off, have you ever been reprimanded for simply taking time off? (I honestly believe everyone has – I was scoffed at once during high school for taking unpaid time off from my restaurant job because I had pneumonia and my doctor told me to rest at home for ten days – the manager arrogantly told me he’d been back to work after two days when he’d had it. Yeah, whatever.) Have you ever been pressured to reschedule a vacation because of work duties, and if so, did you? Have you ever been discriminated against at work for your religion or for anything else? If so, what did you do about it? If not, imagine yourself in Gina Uberti’s place – would you have played the Wicca card, or made up an excuse about a dying grandmother to explain your absence? Would you have sued your employer after being fired this way?

(P.S. If you’re reading this on Facebook, please visit our blog by clicking on “view original post,” just underneath this post. If you’re reading this on the Llewellyn website blog, why not visit us on Facebook and become a fan? Go to http://www.facebook.com/LlewellynBooks. Please feel free to join the discussion in either place. Thanks! – Elysia)