“The court is wrong, and we intend to seek full court review of this patently erroneous decision.”For background, click headlines below for examples of discrimination against Christians in employment:
-- Robert J. Muise, American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) of Ann Arbor, Michigan
California City Official Yanked: Caught Reading Bible
Christian Sports Commentator Fired for Supporting Natural Marriage
Christians Cause Workplace Conflict, So Silence Them
Christians Can Forget Having Any Career at NASA
Also read the myriad examples of government favoring Islam over Christianity.
-- From "US court affirms ruling against Tulsa officer who objected to attending event at mosque" by The Associated Press 5/22/14
The city issued suspensions saying Fields was disobedient and engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer. Fields sued, alleging his rights were violated. But the appeals court says the order did not violate his personal religious beliefs.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Appeals court rules against Tulsa officer in mosque lawsuit" by Robert Boczkiewicz, Tulsa World Correspondent 5/23/14
Fields sued the city, Chief Chuck Jordan and Deputy Chief Daryl Webster. Thursday’s decision affirmed a December 2012 summary judgment against Fields by U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell in Tulsa.
The judges also decided that the order “did not violate the Establishment Clause (of the First Amendment’s protection of religious rights) because no informed, reasonable observer would have perceived the order or the event as a government endorsement of Islam.”
Fields asserted that the event included proselytizing, unlike other events officers had attended, and promoted Islam. None of his subordinates volunteered to attend, he told his supervisor. He told Jordan and Webster he believed the order was unlawful.
About 150 Tulsa police officers, plus members of the sheriff’s office, district attorney’s office and FBI attended the event, according to Thursday’s decision.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Rights Of Tulsa Officer In Mosque Lawsuit Were Not Violated, Appeals Court Says" by Brandi Ball, NewsOn6.com KOTV-TV6 (Tulsa, OK) 5/22/14
The 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals ruled on Thursday that a Tulsa police officer's constitutional rights were not violated when he went against a superior's order to attend a 2010 event at a mosque.
Fields claimed his suspension violated his religious rights because he was punished after he was told to either attend or order subordinates to attend a law enforcement appreciation event hosted by the Islamic Society of Tulsa.
In 2012, a judge denied Fields' request to amend the complaint to add that his freedom of speech also was violated when he allegedly suffered retaliation for bringing the suit. He also said he was denied rights protected by the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act.
The district judge said two years ago that Fields' rights were not violated because he did not have to attend the event at the mosque and he had the option to send others. The judge added, even if Fields had been ordered to go, he did not have to partake of the optional religious services being offered at the event.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Attorney: Tulsa Police Captain Is Being Punished For His Beliefs" by Lori Fullbright, NewsOn6.com KOTV-TV6 (Tulsa, OK) 5/18/12
Fields was suspended without pay for two weeks and has been assigned to the graveyard shift for the past year.
His attorneys said he's being punished for standing up for his beliefs.
[Attorney Erin Mersino, of the Thomas More Law Center, said that at the mosque] officers would get tours, see a religious service and receive presentations on Islam. She says it was not a community policing event where officers were going to give a safety presentation.
"This lawsuit is about a Christian who is standing up and saying he does not want to do something that violates his conscience," Mersino said. "He is not anti-Muslim in the slightest."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Police captain who refused order to go to “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” at mosque — or send his subordinates there — loses his lawsuit" by Eugene Volokh, Washington Post 5/23/14
. . . this [appeals court ruling] sounds right to me: Religious exemption regimes generally require the government to make a strong showing of need before substantially burdening a person’s religious practices — but the plaintiff has to state that the government action actually barred him from doing something religious that he felt compelled or at least motivated to do, or required him to do something he felt religiously prohibited from doing. Simple disapproval of a proposed action that touches religion would not qualify.
And given these facts, I have no sympathy for Fields. Part of his job as a police officer, and especially as a police captain, is to strengthen the police department’s relationship with the community, and with its various subcommunities.
. . . To be sure, the court’s legal analysis leaves open the question of what would have happened if the order had indeed required Fields to go to the mosque personally, and he had sincerely claimed that his religion forbade his going inside a mosque. (Some Jews, for instance, apparently believe that they generally may not go into a church.) If that were so, a substantial burden on religious practice would indeed be present.
To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.
From "Christian cop loses appeal -- must attend mosque" by Bob Unruh, World Net Daily 5/23/14
A panel of federal judges in Denver, in an opinion written by Judge Harris Hartz, found that it is perfectly appropriate for a police chief to order subordinates to attend an Islamic mosque where Muslims “discussed Islamic beliefs, Muhammad, Mecca, and why and how Muslims pray” in addition to encouraging officers “to buy” Islamic books and pamphlets that were for sale.
“We have argued throughout this case that Capt. Fields was summarily punished for simply raising and asserting a religious objection to the order mandating attendance at the Islamic event, and that such discriminatory treatment violates the First and 14th Amendments,” [attorney Robert Muise] said. “Yet, inexplicably, the 10th Circuit refused to address this main issue on appeal, claiming that it was not raised below.”
“The evidence is overwhelming that the city and its senior police officials wanted to make an example of Capt. Fields by harshly punishing him, a Christian, for objecting on religious grounds to an order compelling attendance at an Islamic event,” said David Yerushalmi, co-founder for the AFLC.
“Had a Muslim officer objected to attending a Jewish event to be held at a synagogue on a Saturday and the officer was treated like Capt. Fields, there is little doubt that the entire Tulsa Police Department chain of command would have been fired,” Yerushalmi said.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Al Qaeda Proclaims War on Cross-U.S., President Obama Silent
And read Surviving a Terrorist Attack: Deny Christ or Die
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