Article about religious harassment and malpractice

by john123 4 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  john123

  The following is an article about a case of religious harassment and
  malpractice. To ask question about this article you can contact
  Appraches To Education at (520) 400-0650 or email: [email protected] , or Christian Faith
  Center at (520)722-2217 or email: [email protected]
  
  A Response To A Local
  Church Leader
  
  
  John B. Brown, II, Rev., D.D.
  
  © 2003 Approaches To Education, Inc.
  Tucson, Arizona
  
  
  
  
  I worked with a local Christian leader (Wesley Beard) at a Target
  store. Now I am registering a religious discrimination complaint
  against my former employer. Why did I register this complaint?
  Because Wes is a religious bigot. Wes is a local church leader at a
  Tucson charismatic cult called Christian Faith Center. (Stark and
  Bainbridge). These types of groups typically preach that those who do
  not believe in Jesus Christ are doomed to experience eternal
  separation from God's love. This could mean eternal torment in a
  hellfire. It could also mean existence in some other place where
  God's love does not exist (www.religioustolerance.Org). That is what
  Wes believes. I was present as he told another former Target employee
  this. What about "Do not judge, lest you be judged?" I think God
  should do the judging, not Wes. Wes told me that I should go to
  church every week. Do we have to go into a church to meet God? No,
  but this view is prevalent in today's church. I believe this view to
  be incorrect.
  I made several formal complaints about Wes' religious
  intolerance. One thing that I found intriguing was Wes' apparent
  disposition to accept any claim that a healing or miracle was from
  God despite the fact that he was quite intelligent. I could not
  understand Wes' demeanor. He also appeared to have a behemothic
  arrogance. This arrogance was getting in the way of his critical
  thinking capacity.
  
  Rumors
  One day Wes disclosed to me a testimony on a Christian
  television station (TBN). Wes claimed a preacher traveled to Vietnam.
  This preacher went to the Presidential Palace. That Palace is the
  site where a tank had penetrated the doors signifying the end of the
  Vietnam War (www.vwam.com). That event was the Fall of Saigon. This
  preacher allegedly found two Vietnamese citizens who were on opposing
  factions during the Vietnam War. These two citizens were asked to
  forgive each other. After forgiving each other, one of the citizens
  was supposedly healed of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Wes
  claimed God healed this Vietnamese citizen. Many of those who fought
  in Vietnam did develop PTSD (www.vva.org and www.nami.org), but the
  question is, "did God perform a healing? I actually had several
  questions about Wes' divulging this "testimony of faith." Actually,
  this "testimony" is more of a rumor than a testimony. First, did a
  mental health professional give a PTSD diagnosis? A person or anyone
  else feeling or simply believing that he or she had PTSD is not good
  enough. If God healed that Vietnamese citizen from PTSD, did he go to
  a mental health professional and have the healing experience
  documented? In addition, that citizen would not know that the PTSD
  was gone immediately. Only after a period of days or weeks could he
  or any mental health professional see that the symptoms of PTSD were
  lessened or gone. There are too many questions I have concerning Wes'
  epic tale. Unfortunately, this raises Wes to the status on a simple
  newsmonger. Documentaries like Marjoe and television shows like Prime
  Time Live, 20/20 and a recent NBC Dateline have shown how some of
  these alleged works of God are "slight of hand" tactics. I am not
  stating that God cannot perform miracles, but God cannot be confined
  to a box, or our personal theologies. Even still Wes' tale
  bearing "testimony of faith" is not credible.
  
  "You will know them by their works."
  Every time I registered a complaint, a store executive would talk to
  him. Then Wes would bedevil me for my complaint. Some of these
  complaints were for religious harassment. Finally, my patience ran
  out. I confronted Wes. Human Resources told me I was harassing him,
  and did not consider what Wes was doing as harassment. Target Store
  Number 179 in Tucson needs to check the law. I resigned my employment
  at Target. All Wes' malodorous behavior toward me only created a
  malodorous reaction from me. "Evil begets evil", as a saying goes,
  but I could have conquered his "evil" acts with the good. Wes has no
  notion of the things he had done against other people. After I had
  complained about Wes the second time, security manager Pat Marshall
  harassed me. Target moved her to another store, but not because of
  the harassment. I found out later Mrs. Marshall harassed another
  employee who had registered a complaint against Wes (Klug interview).
  These people have started grave human rights issues.
  Approaches To Education, who has just applied for its 501c3 status,
  is dedicated in earnest to helping people who experience prejudice
  and harassment, especially based on religion. If you have any further
  questions please call Approaches To Education, Inc. at (520) 400-0650
  
  
  References
  
  Approaches To Education, Inc. "Regan Klug Interview. December 2002
  Marjoe. Dir. Sarah Kernochan & Howard Smith. Perf. Marjoe Gortner.
  Columbia & Tristar, 1972
  Television Broadcasts
  
  Prime Time Undercover. "Men of God." Aired November 21, 1991
  20/20. "The End Is Near." Aired March 6, 1992
  
  Web sites
  
  National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). "Post Traumatic Stress
  Disorder." National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, 1996-2002.
  <www.nami.org/helpline/ptsd.html>
  Religious Tolerence.org. "How Christians View Other Christian
  Religions: Statements by Christians." Ontario Consultants On
  Religious Tolerance, 2002. http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_othe2.htm
  Religious Tolerence.org. "How Christians View Other Religions: Views
  of Protestant, Roman Catholic and eastern Orthodox Churches" Ontario
  Consultants On Religious Tolerance, 2002.
  < http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr _othe1.htm> http://www.religioustolerance.org/intol_bibl.htm
  Religious Tolerance.org. "The Relationship Between Membership and
  Prejudice." Ontario Consultants On Religious Tolerance, 2002. http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prej.htm
  Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) "VVA's Guide on PTSD" 2002 Vietnam
  Veterans of America
  <www.vva.org/Benefits/ptsd.htm>
  Vets With a Mission. "Revising The History of the Fall Of Saigon"
  <www.vwam.com/vets/revisedhistory
• 

  TheSilence

  Perhaps I'm missing something (I'm blonde, I often do ;) ) but it seems to me that all Wes did was discuss his beliefs. The employee was not discriminated against that I can see. He doesn't say he was denied a promotion or given a smaller raise due to differing religious beliefs. Are we no longer allowed to state our religious viewpoints at work?

  Confused,

  Jackie
• 

  john123

  Harassing someone or pushing a religion on somebody also fits the legal description of discrimination according to federal and some state guidelines. Maybe the article was not explicit enough about how the employee was harassed
• 

  blondie

  After 33 years of working in the public and private sector, I personally had a few rules and so did my employer.

  1. The employer's time is not the time to talk about religion unless you are a minister/deacon in a church.
  2. I would talk to my fellow employees about the Bible on our break/lunch time only after being approached by them first. Even then, I would talk to them in a place that did not impose on the free time and peace of other employees. I felt that we are in a situation where we have to work together and cannot easily escape from unwanted conversations.
  3. I did not pursue the conversation at work but set up a time away from the job.
  4. I never displayed WT publications on my desk any more than I expected to see a "big old cross" in the next cubicle.
  5. I treated conversation about religion as I would expect others not to swear or use sexual innuendo knowing that others have strong negative feelings about religion and expect a haven from such at work.

  Blondie (who lives not in the Bible Belt but the atheist capital of the world--according to some)

  Definitions: In general, harassment means persistent, unwelcome, unwanted and deliberate conduct or actions which are directed toward an individual because of the individual’s age, ancestry, color, national origin, race, religion, creed, handicap, marital status, sex or sexual orientation, arrest or conviction record (which is not job-related), political affiliation, or membership in the military service.

  Harassment exists whenever:

  - submission to harassing conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, a term or condition of an individual’s employment;
  - submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual; or
  - the conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

  Borrowed from a government work manual***
• 

  TheSilence

  Ah, see, it *was* that I'm blonde. ;)

  Thanks,

  Jackie