For the purposes of the first article like this (maybe the only one if it isn't a success), I'm going to clarify things. This is a game I like to play with some friends because we are huge dorks. Basically, something people don't realize is that court is kind of a logic game. Not like Phoenix Wright stuff, but basically pushing the boundaries of the rules, exploring how far they go. It's kind of fun, so I figured I'd try and imitate it.

Here's how it works: I'll explain what a case needs to be successful under the legislation. I'm going to write out a real court case and add my own details and touches to it so it's not boring. And then, you guys answer the question at the end. I'll also post the court case at the end in a hide tag so you can see how it turned out. It's not very complex and you'll learn some cool stuff about the law.

This article is about Religious Expression.

Title VII under the Civil Rights Act protects religious expression for every American citizen. However there are obviously exemptions and problems here; an employer can't force his employees to all be Christian and a Christian can't just pray the entire day away. Thus, some rules have to be set down for religious expression.

-Religious expression can be prohibited if it conflicts with workplace practice. You can't obviously say “my religion is against working, peace homo” and sleep the day away.
-You cannot fire an employee or otherwise penalize them for religious belief, practice, or observance.
-If there is a possibility of a “reasonable accomodation” for religion, the employer must do it. This is a difficult idea to understand, and as far as I know is done case by case.
-If there is a negative impact on the workplace because of the religious expression, the employer can act on it via sanctions or firing or whatever.

Got it? Now apply the reasoning to this case.

Hewlett Packard is a fairly large computing and printer manufacturing company. With their attempt to be, you know, good people, they launched a diversity campaign. Part of the campaign was a series of posters they put up in their offices, posters about ten or twelve feet high, big color posters of employees. And under the employees were descriptions of them. One word descriptions.

BLACK.
BLONDE.
OLD.
HISPANIC.

Underneath the captions was the company slogan: Diversity is Our Strength. None of these posters generated any controversy. I'm sure any people who saw the smiling people on the posters probably shook their head in amusement and went about the day. But the last poster became a huge mess to HP. It was a smiling man, just a little too well cared for, a little TOO good looking, a little too...too...

GAY.

See now, Mr. Peterson. When I describe him physically I usually make him out as some cross between Ron Perlman and a scarecrow, but I bet he just looks kind of doughy and normal. He comes into work everyday, adjusts his little picture frame with the “Footprints” parable inside, and taps away more or less constantly through the day. Votes Republican, loves America.

See Mr. Peterson walk in with his coffee mug in one hand, the paper folded under his other. See him sniff his coffee, as if it were some premium blend instead of two day old Folgers. See him because he's about to be horrified and his life will change forever.

Mr. Peterson saw the GAY poster. He stared at the GAY poster, probably ignoring his coworkers that murmured greetings to him.

What was that?

Was that...a homosexual?

On a COMPANY POSTER?

Mr. Peterson was horrified and disgusted. As a Christian, he had fierce moral objections to homosexuality, and yet here the company was, displaying a big ole QUEER in front of his workspace. Whenever he would need to make a copy, the...the thing would be right in front of him. It would watch him enter and leave. It would...oh god, it would see his daughter on Bring Your Daughter to work day if he was married and had children!

I see Mr. Peterson's brow narrowing and his eyes turning cold. Mr. Peterson now had a mission. He spent the night thinking and brooding and planning. And the next day, a coworker walked by Mr. Peterson's car, only to stop and do a double take. He bends over, stared at the bumper sticker, his expression one of shock. Mr. Peterson's bumpersticker proudly displayed:

Sodomy is NOT a Family Value.

The first shot of Peterson's war had been fired.

He wrote letters to the Idaho Statesman; Hewlett-Packard, he said, was “on the rampage to change moral values in Idaho under the guise of diversity” and was secretly a “platform to promote the homosexual agenda.” The paper published them, and word quickly reached HP execs, who began to worry.

Things got worse quickly. Peterson started putting up Biblical scriptures, in pretty big typeface, right above his cubicle, where anyone walking by could easily read them.

Corinthians 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
Isaiah 3:9 “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves.”
And of course, Leviticus 20:13 “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be put upon them.”

Peterson quickly became a small time celebrity at Hewlett Packard. At least, I'm sure that's what he saw himself as. It was Peterson against the man! That's right! The Christian white male would be ignored no longer! And HP didn't ignore him.

He had several meetings with executives at HP, and his supervisor removed the quotes. The HP guys tried helplessly to talk to Peterson, but he was determined. They pointed to the harassment policy “Any comments or conduct relating to a person's race, gender, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, or ethnic background that fail to respect the dignity and feeling [sic] of the individual are unacceptable.” Peterson shook his head in dismay. “I don't see any way that I can compromise what I am doing that would satisfy both [Hewlett-Packard] and my own conscience,” he said, after his suggestion that the company take down the gay poster was rejected. “as long as [Hewlett-Packard] is condoning [homosexuality] I'm going to oppose it”. Peterson pointed to Native American dreamcatchers and zen symbols in other cubicles, claiming they were also religious symbols, and he could put up whatever Bible verses he wanted.

Hewlett-Packard knew they were treading on shakey ground, and decided to give Peterson some time off with pay to reconsider his position. Anyone who has dealt with a religious zealot knows that they will percieve any attempt at negotiation as bribery. Peterson was no different. As soon as his time off was over, he defiantly stuck those scripures up again and didn't remove them. HP fired him for insubordination.

A few weeks later, HP was shocked that they received a discrimination lawsuit from Peterson, who got the right to sue from the EEOC (who monitors all Title VII cases). He was suing for...religious discrimination. Mr. Peterson, by law, had the right to put up religious items in his cubicle.

The question: Did the courts rule that Mr. Peterson had the right to put up those religious phrases? District court originally found for HP in this case, but Peterson appealed which is where we are now.

Now, lets make it interesting by talking about a second, shorter case. Unfortunately, I can't find the ACTUAL CASE, only references to it, online, so I'll have to tell you how it ended.

Loretta Banks was not like you or I. She woke up every morning, and instead of staggering to her closet, swearing and mumbling, she smiled at the silence. That silence was God's silence. Every day Loretta Banks looked out the window, she saw God out there. In each of the blades of grass, in every leaf, in every trundling caterpillar, was evidence of God's miracle. For some reason, because she avoided any major tragedy in her life (or perhaps because she didn't), Mrs. Banks believed in God the way some of us believe in gravity.

She got a job working at a cafeteria in a large corporation, with Service Foods America. She was a simple woman, so she was very happy about her job. And that first day, when some redeyed business kid, 25, probably engaged, rolled up to the cafeteria, she spooned him some mashed potato and bellowed, “Have a blessed day!”

The kid misstepped, and stared at the smiling woman behind the counter. It happened again. And again. Mrs. Banks served food and yelled:

“God bless you!”
“Praise the Lord!”

Most people gave her a look and shook their heads in disbelief. Others are perturbed. Some are atheists. Others don't believe in the Christian God. Her coworkers, worried that they would be held responsible, asked Mrs. Banks to tone it down, and to her credit she tried. But everyday, the Holy Spirit would overwhelm her (seriously, this is what she said) and she would again greet the employees with a boisterous religious exclamation, like “Goooood bless you!!!”

The company couldn't accept it and fired her. Mrs. Banks filed for religious discrimination, claiming the company had fired her for her religious expression. Did the courts find for Mrs. Banks?

Last case, and I'm going to make it short. It's a newer court decision from the lower courts, and really indicates how the court system has been going lately. A few of us have worked jobs before, and as employees, have had to attend sensitivity training. Thomas Altman, Kristen Larson, and Kenneth Yackly found out they were supposed to attend a mandatory seventy-five minute training program called “Gays and Lesbians in the Workplace”. They couldn't get excused from it; it was companywide (used loosely, as the company in question is the DOC). Because as Christians they had moral qualms against gays and lesbians and believed this lecture would “raise deviant sexual behavior for staff to a level of acceptance and respectability”, they decided that instead of paying attention, they would go to the seminar and read their Bibles while the man talked.

So, as the speaker droned on and others dozed off, the small center of three continued to keep their eyes to their Bibles, deliberately ignoring him. A supervisor saw them, and issued three written reprimands for them alone, which made Yackley and Altman ineligible for promotions. Learning of this, all three filed a religious expression suit, saying that their religion had not been tolerated. Did the court agree? This case went to an appeals court, btw; the original district court did NOT find for them.

The links below will reveal how the cases turned out. While that's kind of interesting, if you're like me you like to try and figure out how they ended on your own. I've given you most of the details you'll need to figure out who should win, although the answer might surprise you!

Peterson vs Hewlett Packard:


Banks vs. Service America


Altman v. Minnesota Department of Corrections


So basically, that's how the courts treat religious expression! So...go spread Jesus...if you dare...