Federal employees are suing Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, arguing her use of Christian messaging in the workplace is “unconstitutionally coercive.”
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday (May 13), in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said Rollins “has adopted a practice of sending increasingly proselytizing communications to the entire USDA workforce, promoting her own preferred brand of Christian beliefs and theology to the captive audience of employees that report to her.”
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The complaint was filed by the advocacy groups Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Democracy Forward Foundation and the California-based firm Bryan Schwartz Law on behalf of the National Federation of Federal Employees and seven named plaintiffs of a variety of faiths and no faith — including Jewish, Buddhist, pagan and atheist employees of the USDA, according to the lawsuit.
The union of more than 110,000 federal workers — including more than 19,000 USDA staffers — and the individuals charge Rollins’ actions do not reflect the secular mission of the department.
“The Secretary’s practice reached a crescendo,” their complaint said, with an Easter [April 5] email that described the holiday as marking “the greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith and the abiding hope of all mankind.”
It went on to declare “Jesus has been raised from the dead. And God has granted each of us victory and new life.”
Her entire Easter message to “Team USDA” is attached to the complaint and features an illustration of a tomb with a stone rolled away and the words “Christ is Risen.”
Asked to comment, a USDA spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on pending litigation, we will keep the plaintiffs in our prayers during this process.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Adelle M. Banks and originally published by Religion News Service.
